Centurion forward James Haslett has led his team on offense all season in points (22), goals (10), and game-winning goals (3), and as the playoffs started for the Centurions, Haslett kept to form to give his Men’s Centurion Soccer team (9) a 2-1 upset on Oct. 26 at Northampton.
The deciding goal came after Centurion defenseman Wayne Horger was able to get the ball to Haslett off a corner throw-in.
“I saw there was no one covering me on the throw in, so I just took the ball and turned on it,” Haslett said.
Defense paved the way for Haslett’s heroics as they were able to hold the Spartan leading scorers Tyler Garr and Mike Gaudette to one combined assist
For the game shots were hard to come by as Spartan goalie Ronald Mendizabal and Centurion goalie Trevor Hopf faced six and seven shots, respectively. Mendizabal and Hopf were tested on those shots, but came up huge.
The Spartans controlled the early part of the game thanks in large part to Gaudette. Gaudette was able to get behind the defense with the ball, but was unable to finish. Multiple

offsides calls also played a part in Gaudette’s quiet afternoon as he was flagged multiple times.
A pair of big defensive stops spurred the Centurions on offense, but Mendizabal kept the game scoreless.
The Centurions had an interesting strategy on free kicks they attempted that would go to a teammate first instead of Mendizabal.
“We were just trying to catch their goalie out of position,” Centurion head coach Justin Burroughs later said.
After watching both offenses have ample opportunities, the half ended with the score dead-locked at zero.
The Centurions took advantage of the reversal of fields in the second half as they scored at one minute eight seconds in as mid-fielder Geremy Scholtz would deflect a rebound past Mendizabal to open the scoring.
“Somebody was able to cross in front of the goalie and I was able to kick it in,” Scholtz said.
The Spartans would respond moments later when defenseman Ryan Gunderman would score the tying goal. Gunderman’s goal would come off a direct kick by Gaudette that found the right corner of the Centurion net.
“I told the free kicker to look for me and luckily I got a good bounce and was able to get the ball over the goalie’s head,” Gunderman said.
By trying to get the lead right back the Centurions would race down field and fire an array of shots at Mendizabal that would be turned aside.
The game assumed a back-and-forth pace from there as both teams would exchange scoring chances.
The Spartan offense seemed to dictate off their defense as they attempted a number of long outlet passes to get teammates behind the Centurion defense.
One such attempt got through to Gaudette and he was able to find himself one-on-one with Hopf. Hopf was up for the challenge, however, as he was able to make the save.
The Centurions were methodical as they pushed the ball up the field by using all phases of their team.
In the final minutes heading into overtime, both teams would pour on the , but would have nothing to show for it.
The overtime period tested the players’ stamina and it proved to be too much for the Spartans as they would get caught out of position on Haslett’s goal.
“It was exciting,” Buroughs said. “I think the biggest thing was that we worked hard and kept our intensity up.”