Deerfield-Windsor boys top Fugees to advance to semifinals

ALBANY — The Deerfield-Windsor Knights were in a very tight battle with the Fugees Academy in the GISA state quarterfinals, but Reynolds Langstaff and Lanier Freeman scored two goals to give Deerfield-Windsor a hard-earned 2-1 win and a berth in the GISA state semifinals Tuesday night at Darton State College.

Deerfield-Windsor coach Ally Joslin was impressed with the speed of the Fugees club.

“It was different. I’ve never quite seen a team with so much pace in all my life,” Joslin said. “We got through it, but they gave us problems. We really had two chances and we scored two goals, so we were lucky in that regard.”

Twenty minutes into the first half, Carson Orlowski drove the ball down the left flank towards goal and took a shot that glanced off the Fugees goalkeeper, but Langstaff was their to put in the rebound.

Then with just under 30 minutes left in the game, Freeman blasted a shot into the upper part of the net to give the Knights the deciding goal they needed.

“It was an honor to play against this team (Fugees),” Freeman said. “They had a ton of pace and they handled the ball very well in the air. Ultimately, I think we were able to just maintain possession and that ultimately gave us the win.”

The Fugees Academy, an Atlanta-area school made up of international students, gave the Knights every thing they could handle throughout the match with their speed and skill. They had chances to score, but DWS goalkeeper Grant Wollam came up big with three crucial saves.

“Grant was absolutely incredible,” Joslin said. “He pulled off three remarkable saves that I’m not sure many other people could have made.”

The Knights’ back line was also solid throughout the match, making it difficult for Fugees to get off quality shots-on-goal.

The Fugees broke through with a little over ten minutes to go when Moo Gay scored to cut the Knights’ lead to 2-1.

As time was winding down, the Fugees put more pressure on the Knights’ defense but were unable to equalize.

The Knights advance to the GISA final four in Augusta on May 8.