By Ryan Lanigan || HockomockSports.com Editor

MANSFIELD, Mass. — Before the regular season kicked off, Mansfield head coach Steve Sheridan knew this year’s squad had the potential to be great. 

The Hornets didn’t just win their annual preseason scrimmage with perennial power Nauset — they crushed them. 

The special season has resulted in Mansfield’s first-ever state semifinal appearance after the second-seeded Hornets scored a 2-0 win over #7 Wayland, booking a spot in the Division 2 Final Four. 

“We scrimmage them every year and it’s always a litmus test to see how good I think we can be,” Sheridan said. “We’ve never beat them in that scrimmage until this year, we beat them 5-0. At that point, I felt like we were ready. We made a couple mistakes along the way, dropped some points. But this is where we want to be.”

Mansfield’s postseason trend of early goals continued in its quarterfinal matchup with the visiting Warriors with the opening goal coming in the third minute. Junior Brandon Gardner used great hustle to earn a corner kick for the hosts, and then went up and headed in the service from Dylan Mullin, nodding the ball down and it bounced over the keeper for a 1-0 lead. 

The Hornets scored in the opening minute of their first playoff game against Hopkinton and had a goal in the seventh minute in the Round of 16 against Longmeadow. 

“I felt like we were all locked in at the start of the game. But once we scored that goal, we sort of stepped back a little bit, and I didn’t like the second half of the first half,” Sheridan said. “We came out in the second half and played a little better, it was a little more 50-50 with possession but we were able to take advantage [to score].

Senior captain Cooper Austin added, “It’s awesome, everyone works so hard. It started in the spring, through the summer, and every day this fall. It’s good to get rewarded but the job’s not finished, we want a state [championship].”

The hosts had chances to put the game away early with Dom Nassif just missing a cross a minute after the first goal, and then Nassif had a header smash off the post after a cross from Eamon Doyle in the 11th minute. 

Wayland was able to create some chances off a couple of mistakes from the Hornets. John Pordage had a takeaway in the offensive third and teed up Reece Davies, but his shot was blocked down by senior center back Matt Sullivan. Five minutes later, another giveaway resulted in a chance for Wayland’s Jack Gavron, but this time it was Austin there to deny the chance. 

“Everybody had to show up today and they did,” Sheridan said. “We made some mistakes but we covered for them, and that’s something we’ve done all year. When we do, we cover each other and I was glad to see that.”

Quality chances were at a premium for the rest of the half. Mansfield goalie Troy Lasbury-Casey comfortably handled an opener header attempt from Gavron in the 19th minute, and was positioned well on a flick from Riley Martins just past the half hour mark as the Hornets held a 1-0 lead going into the break. 

The second half nearly had an identical start to the first as Mansfield was inches away from doubling the lead in the 42nd minute. Mullin served a free kick from 25 yards to the far post that Gardner lunged out to get, but his bid was off the outside of the post. 

Strong midfield play from senior Tyler Znoj in the middle helped thwart any serious build up from Wayland, and Marco Geminiani‘s play on the wing kept the Warriors honest defensively, unable to push numbers forward to account for him, Nassif, and Amro Hosny. 

After a bevy of corners in the first half, Mansfield was able to cash in on another one in the second. Mullin curled an in-swinging service on frame, and with Doyle applying pressure next to the goalie, the ball skipped through the punch attempt and in at the far post to make it 2-0 in the 61st minute.

“He’s got the green light to do that if he sees it,” Sheridan said. “If he’s going far post like that, he’s looking for Coop or Eamon, depending on who’s there. With that one, you’d have to ask him what he was trying to do. I’d bet he’d say he was trying to do that now.

“He has so much touch with his foot it’s unbelievable. He can put the ball almost anywhere he wants it. I actually told him at half on the corners, to alternate between near post and far post. I think the goalie was too concerned with our players that were in the box than he was with the ball.”

So, was Mullin going for goal off the corner?

“We practice set pieces a lot, we wanted to crowd around the keeper and I just wanted to put in there,” Mullin said. “I’m not going to lie, I didn’t intend for it to be a shot and to score, but I can’t complain. 

“Cooper is always someone I’m looking for back post, he’s a really towering target, and Eamon as well. When we have those two, there’s always a chance we can be dangerous on set pieces.”

Lasbury-Casey wasn’t forced into any spectacular saves over the final 20 minutes, but he was confident off his line and did well on a bit of a scrum in the box in the final five minutes. Both Gardner and Nassif came inches from tacking on a third for the Hornets in the dying moments but the Wayland keeper got just enough on both shots. 

It marked the ninth shutout for the Hornets’ defense, anchored by Sullivan, Austin, Doyle, and fellow senior Shaddy Makran. 

“We’ve been playing together since we were six or seven years old so the chemistry there is really strong,” Austin said of the back four. “This is my first year playing in the back four but before high school, I always played there with Matty, Eamon, and Shaddy. We know how to play together and I have so much trust in all of those boys.”

Mansfield awaits the winner of #6 West Springfield and Hockomock rival #3 Oliver Ames, who play on Thursday night. The semifinal game is currently listed by the MIAA as Monday, November 18th at Walpole High at 7:00.