Shots on goal were plentiful for Bethlehem Catholic and Salisbury in the first round of District XI Class 2A boys soccer playoffs, but the Golden Hawks found the back of the net much more often in their 7-2 victory over the Falcons last Tuesday night at Salisbury.

The first goal of the match came in the 14th minute on a header by Becahi defender Matthew Yusella off a corner by Sebastian Cortez.

“At that point, Seb gave me a great ball. I saw it coming and I was running the whole time, got around my defender and just put it in,” Yusella said. “It felt amazing.”

Three minutes later, Becahi midfielder Peter Martinez launched a shot from 42 yards out that gave the Hawks their second goal of the match.

“I’ve been trying to hit that all year, so I had that opportunity and knew I had to take it,” said Martinez. “I saw the goalie come out and then turn around. I saw the goal was open. It felt really good, but I knew we had a long game to go.”

In addition, the Hawks had pregame adjustments to make; namely, backup goalie Jeremy Fyrer replaced starter Christian Lopez who was suspended with a prior red card, and Becahi’s home field advantage shifted to Salisbury due to rain.

While Fyrer held the Falcons for 50 minutes, the Hawks attacked even harder after each of their four first-half goals.

“The plan was to stop their midfielders. They have really great passing, so we had to take that away from them and cut off shots,” said Yusella. “We had to get used to [Jeremy Fyrer], and he had to get used to us too, but we worked together really good. He does a really good job of telling us where to go, where the ball is.”

Becahi midfielder Alberto Cocirio nailed a low power shot in the 25th minute, and Becahi striker William Hawach tallied the Hawks’ fourth goal.

“Just dribbling in the midfield, I saw an opening. That’s one of my moves, to tap it in the space and run around them because they never expect it,” Hawach said. “It’s awesome; I mean, Beca’s not a district team all the time...It feels so good to finally proceed.”

Hawach ran to the sideline to address his parents after he scored, which was not lost on either Becahi or Salisbury fans.

“My parents are busy a lot, so they don’t come to as many games as I’d like them to, so they came to this one, the most important one of my high school career, and I went over and screamed, ‘I love my mom and dad,’” Hawach said.

No sooner did the second half start when Martinez scored again as Salisbury keeper Tyson Utesch came off his mark.

“Basically, we had to go in like it was a 0-0 game,” said Martinez. “We knew they were going to be fired up from being down by a decent amount, so we knew we had to score more goals, and that’s pretty much what we did.”

The Falcons pounded the goal but Fyrer slid to make the saves off his feet multiple times until the 50th minute when Noah Kichline put the Falcons on the scoreboard.

While Kichline’s goal gave the Falcons some hope, the Hawks had other ideas, and midfielder Jacob Manhardt scored to the bottom left corner.

“We kept pushing, and I told them, ‘Keep shooting, shooting, shooting,’” said Becahi head coach John Hohn. “I didn’t expect [seven goals], but I knew it was possible.”

Becahi striker Ethan Wiles was determined to make it seven, and after several tries, scored the lucky number in the last few minutes.

Salisbury midfielder Aidan Mathieu’s shot to the bottom right corner scored the Falcons second goal.

“So proud,” said Coach Hohn. “They’ve put in the work, have done what was asked of them, and they’ve done really well. I’m super proud of the team, and the school, and that they keep staying in it. We play in the EPC against big schools and hard teams, and every game, they come out and give their all.”

Last Thursday, the Hawks faced Allentown Central Catholic in the quarterfinal but lost 5-1. Yusella scored Becahi’s goal on an assist by Cortez. Lopez was back in goal for the Hawks and registered 12 saves.

Prior to the quarterfinal match, Coach Hohn said, “Central’s gonna be a tough game. We know it is, and we’re going to try and play a little more defensive, and push to keep them from scoring, and maybe we get something in, but we have to put up a good fight.”