Troy advances to regional finals

Top-ranked Troy defeated Warren Cousino 5-1 on Tuesday night at Rochester Stoney Creek to secure its spot in the Division 1 regional finals. The victory marks the third consecutive year the Colts have reached this stage of the tournament. They will face Utica Eisenhower at 7:30 p.m. Thursday for the regional championship.

Troy enters the final with a 17-0-2 record, having outscored opponents 65-11 across 18 games this season. The team recorded nine shutouts before the win over Cousino. Junior Will Horvath and senior Josh Schmidt combined to concede one goal but did not record a save.

Coach Adam Spinks acknowledged that his team may have underestimated the upstart Patriots, who finished the season 8-12-1. Despite the lopsided final score, Spinks noted that Troy dominated possession but did not fully outwork the opponent. He expressed confidence in his squad's experience, citing ten seniors who have been part of the program since their sophomore years.

"We played (Eisenhower) earlier in the year but we know this is different because this is the tournament," Spinks said. "We watched a little bit of them tonight and we’ll have a game plan and hopefully third time the charm."

Warren Cousino reached the regional semifinals for only the second time in school history. The Patriots achieved a district title despite a sub-.500 record, relying heavily on a young roster. Coach Jordan Wilczak stated that Troy's superior depth and physicality wore down his team in the second half.

"Troy is a very deep team and I think they wore us down a little bit," Wilczak said. "I think 10 minutes into the second half we kind of ran our course and they had all of the momentum."

The Colts took a 1-0 lead with 32:51 remaining in the first half. Senior midfielder Mateo Coronado scored off a rebound from a teammate's initial shot, firing the ball from 15 yards out. Troy did not score the decisive goal until the second half.

Senior Cole Cusmano extended the lead to 2-0 with 39:32 left in the second half. He controlled a clearing attempt and struck a 27-yard shot into the upper top shelf. Coronado added a third goal with 25:22 remaining, finishing a feed from Cusmano into the bank.

Junior Florian Zinn scored two late goals to make it 5-0, with 16:04 and 12:34 left on the clock. Junior Jozef Lulgjuraj recorded an assist on the fifth goal. Troy outshot Cousino 31-2 overall, including an 18-1 advantage in shots on goal. The Colts also held an 8-2 edge in corner kicks.

Cousino's only goal came with 10:33 remaining. Sophomore Josh Williams flicked back a throw-in over near the box, allowing freshman Kamil Sternicki to fire a low shot just inside the far post. Sophomore backup goalkeeper Lean Mansoor made 12 saves in the loss, while Loki Pierce made one save before leaving the game with an injury.