After a three-year hiatus from being a district qualifier, the Salisbury boys soccer team is ready to play for a district championship for the third time in four seasons.

It came down to the Falcons’ final game of the season, when they beat Lincoln Leadership Academy for the second time this season on Thursday to qualify for the District 11 tournament. A league record of 5-7-0 leaves Salisbury on the outside looking in for the Colonial League playoffs.

The Falcons’ final league game was a 6-1 loss to Southern Lehigh, knocking them out of playoff contention. Josh Hudak assisted on a goal by Jack Monahan and Blaine Berger made nine saves in goal for the Falcons against Southern Lehigh.

It was a completely different story against the Lions as three Salisbury players – Alejandro Zuniga Garcia, Christian Marinos, and Jacob Knerr – all scored two goals to pace the Falcon offense. Monahan, Andrew Grejda, Ahmed Suleiman, and Anthony To also scored goals in the win that put Salisbury into districts with a 9-8-0 overall record for the season.

Head coach Mark Allinson credits senior leadership and a couple younger players with helping to push the offense this season.

“Jack Monahan, Jacob Knerr and Heriberto Hernandez, our captains have been providing crucial minutes down the stretch,” said Allinson. “Andrew Grejda has been a strong force all season long and juniors Josh Hudak and Alejandro Zuniga Garcia have been providing the scoring punch along with Monahan.”

The Salisbury defense was able to limit the number of shots for Lincoln Leadership and Berger was called on for five saves.

“Blaine has been a solid force in the net for us and has helped keep some games close and has made key saves to win others. He’s been really good for us this season,” said Allinson.

Salisbury needed to win one of its final two games this season to lock up the district playoff spot and saw that come down to the final game after the loss to the Spartans (10-3-0 Colonial, 10-7-0 overall).

The Falcons missed the postseason last season but played in districts in 2021 and 2020, falling to Bethlehem Catholic in the first round last season and dropping a game against eventual champ Notre Dame in the 202 first round. Their last district appearance before then came in 2016, which ended a streak where Salisbury won three district titles between 2003 and 2016 and won silver medals in two other seasons during the stretch.