Salisbury’s boys soccer season came to an end last week with a 3-1 loss to Notre Dame (Green Pond) in the District 11 Class 2A quarterfinals.

When the Crusaders’s scored a goal less than three minutes into the game, the Falcons were on their heels.

Salisbury started to build some momentum and get some shots off later in the first half, but couldn’t get anything past Notre Dame goalie James Macchia. The Crusaders added another goal with just over 15 minutes left in the first half.

Salisbury countered, but a pair of shots late in the first half by Nick Amado and Andre Fernandes were both turned away by Macchio.

“It’s typical of the way their season has gone,” said Salisbury head coach Mark Allinson. “We need to be able to capitalize on the opportunities we have. First half we certainly had, I thought, the better of the play opportunity-wise.”

The Falcons (3-8) seemed to play even better after the Crusaders (10-2) made it 3-0 just over four minutes into the season half.

They put more pressure on Macchio and eventually Chris Marinos got one past him to make it 3-1 with 28:41.

Not long after the Falcons’ goal, a red card to one of their key players meant they would have to play with 10 players the rest of the game.

“We put one in and hopefully that gives us more momentum. Chris buried that one and all of a sudden we had a lot of momentum. We got a red card and it sort of took away from what we had.”

Salisbury played well despite being a man down and a few minutes later a red card for Notre Dame evened the sides for the final 12 minutes of the game.

The Falcons had a few more chances in the final minutes, including one Marinos shot that clanked off the post. But Notre Dame, the No. 1 seed in Class 2A, held on for the win.

Salisbury finishes the season at 3-8 overall after earning the No. 8 seed for the district playoffs.

“I’m proud of them,” said Allinson. “They went out there and busted their butts. The senior group was with us all four years. They certainly put a lot of time and effort into it. They didn’t necessarily get the wins that previous groups had gotten, but they certainly left it on the field. In spurts they were really fun to watch.”

This year’s senior class followed the Falcons’ 2016 district championship team. When a large group of boys soccer seniors graduated in the spring of 2017, the Class of 2021 filled their shoes. Several players have been with the program since their freshman season and have started all four years.

The seniors listed on this year’s Salisbury soccer roster include Marinos, Fernandes, goalie Baxter Reihman, Marinos, Patrick Stoker, Anthony Cortes-Torres, Robert Stoker, CJ Ekdhal, Tyler Carpenter and Andrew Sabol.

The group went through a season in 2020 like no other. Half their season was taken away by a global pandemic. They missed a lot of summer training, bonding and preseason rituals.

When they were given the green light to start their season, they did everything they had to do and got in as many games and scheduling and guidelines would allow.

“It’s a testament to the kids,” said Allinson. “They followed what our athletic training staff, our athletic department and our school district set forth as guidelines. It’s a testament to them that they were able to get their 11 games in.”