On Sept. 15 Northampton played host to the Stroudsburg Mountaineers in boys soccer.

The Konkrete Kids were coming into this game on a four-game unbeaten streak having beaten Whitehall, Parkland and Pocono Mountain East all away from home. The Kids came into this game as second in the EPC Skyline division. Stroudsburg though, was putting together a respectable season themselves. The mountaineers won five out of their first six games of the season, helping them to top of the EPC Mountain Division.

This early afternoon game was thrilling from whistle to whistle. The first 20 minutes of the game was dominated by Northampton but it had no goals to show for it. Stroudsburg stayed patient and scored first on a mishap on defense by the Kids as the Mountaineers’ Jonah Lukaszewski opened the scoring.

The Kids kept battling and scored the equalizer. Maxx Venzke made a beautiful pass to Russell King for Northampton’s first.

The second half had the same intensity and excitement as the first as both teams were playing to win. Each teams’ goalkeepers made some big saves to keep the score level, until Stroudsburg’s Ben Sweeney scored from a corner kick. The play leading up that corner was spearheaded by a rather questionable call made by the ref. Nonetheless, Northampton played hard until the final whistle. They looked destined to lose, until captain and center back Aaron Eberts scored with only nine seconds left on the clock. The game could’ve went either way in overtime, but neither team could score and this exciting game ended in a 2-2 draw.

After the thrilling match, coach Bastidas was upset at the second goal but very pleased with his team’s comeback.

“It was unfortunate to give up the second goal. I’m very proud of their response to that goal though,” he said.

Bastidas’s team is now on a five-game unbeaten streak and feels really good about his team’s recent run.

“[I feel] really good, there is no easy wins in this league. We’re being tested a lot and learning how to get results. Eight wins is now our magic number to qualify for districts,” said Bastidas.

Upcoming for Northampton is hosting Liberty (4-0) on Sept. 17 and Nazareth (0-4) on Sept. 20, and finally travel to Salisbury (2-5) on Sept. 22 to end their busy week. This stretch of games may be extra difficult for the kids as Jacob Auger, Northampton’s leading goal scorer this season, left the field against Stroudsburg with an injury.

Bastidas is still optimistic and excited for the upcoming games though.

“Injuries happen to every team, we just have to deal with it and keep playing. It’s going to be interesting to see who steps up for us to score,” Bastidas said.

It’s around the midway point of the season and the Kids are on pace to make districts.