YOUNGSTOWN — Broken arms and broken spirits. That’s about the best way to describe the Lewiston-Porter boys soccer team in early September.

“We were a mess,” senior captain Tyler Diez said Monday.

No less than a half-dozen players missed more than one game to injury throughout the year, and it took a handful of games for the team to even break into the win column.

Slowly but surely things began to turn, though. The Lancers upended perennial power Kenmore East, hung tough with Lockport and Grand Island and even scratched together a respectable 5-7-2 mark in the rugged Niagara Frontier League. And all but two of the wounded returned to the lineup by the end of the regular season.

“I think we started to finally jell as a family,” second-year coach Sam Ricotta said. “We were playing ironman soccer with very few subs there for a while and we struggled, but in the end I think that brought them closer. And when guys started coming back, that really solidified our lineup.”

And it showed in the team’s play. The No. 12 Lancers upset fifth-seeded Riverside in the Class A prequarterfinals before coming from behind to knock off No. 4 Iroquois in Saturday’s quarterfinals.

“Our regular season record doesn’t resemble how good a team we are,” senior captain P.D. Polley said. “And since the playoffs have started, we’ve turned it up even more.”

That was certainly the case against the Chiefs when Lew-Port had to overcome an early 1-0 deficit.

“Before the start of every playoff game we tell the guys that the season is not going to end today,” explained Diez, who is the team’s leading scorer. “We don’t want it to be over. I think everyone is playing like that, too. It’s been a domino effect.”

And when he says everyone, he means everyone. Ricotta said every player on the roster has taken their game to another level over the past few weeks, most notably defenders Noah Rougeux, Joe Caprio and Dylan Duncan, midfielders Max Braun and Robert Minicucci and goalkeeper Austin Crossley.

At 5 p.m. today when Lew-Port takes on top-seeded Williamsville South in the semifinals at Hamburg’s Howe Field, those players and more will need to step up, Ricotta said. The Billies beat the Lancers 3-0 in both team’s season opener.

“It’s going to be a defensive-minded game where every single player is going to play a key role,” he said.

Polley added, “We don’t want it to end here. As long as everyone’s continue to play like we have been playing, we can definitely win.”

Contact reporter Nate Beutel at 282-2311, ext. 2262.



GAME NIGHT

• WHO: 12-Lewiston-Porter vs. 1-Williamsville South

• WHAT: Class A semifinal

• WHEN: 5 p.m. today

• WHERE: Hamburg’s Howe Field

• NOTES: The Lancers have upset No. 5 Riverside and No. 4 Iroquois to get to this point. ... The other semifinal, set for 7 p.m., pits second-seeded Grand Island against third-seeded Cheektowaga. ... The championship game is slated for 3 p.m. Saturday at Amherst’s Dimp Wagner Field.