Having played only 60 varsity minutes during the entire regular season, David Dafiaghor substituted into Monday night’s first-round game of the Class 2A East Chicago Central Sectional.
The sophomore outside midfielder was preparing to take a corner kick against Morton. He looked at Munster coach Jim Prasopoulos, who reconsidered the scenario by looking at Kiriako Tsoukalas, the senior midfielder who typically takes such restarts.
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Dafiaghor wound up scoring on the service from Tsoukalas, opening the floodgates in the Mustangs’ 6-0 win against the Governors. His first career goal could not have come at a more opportune time.
“I saw the corner coming in, it was coming right to me, I closed my eyes and I just threw my body into it,” Dafiaghor said. “After I scored, it was so surreal. I was like, ‘Wow, it’s 1-0, we got this game in the bag now. This is our game.’
“I had a lot of confidence after that goal, and that confidence was what kept me moving on the sides.”
Dafiaghor’s strike with 15 minutes left in the first half sparked a stretch of three goals for Munster in a little more than three minutes as the Mustangs (12-3-2), ranked No. 20 in Class 2A, seized control. To that point, the previously undefeated Governors (11-1-1) had held a 5-1 advantage in shots on goal.
Morton coach Chris Jagadich declined comment.
The score was not necessarily indicative of the competitiveness of the game.
“We knew what we were up against with these guys,” Prasopoulos said. “They’re a very good team, they’ve had a lot of success.
“There was no way we were going to come onto this field and take them for granted. You could see it in the emotion, they were crying at the end — those kids wanted it as much as we did. We just happened to win.”
It took Munster until the middle stages of the first half to adjust to Morton’s long-ball style, something the Mustangs had not faced this season, according to Prasopoulos.
“We did what we had to do and I’m proud of that,” he said. “But we have to keep fighting, stay focused and we have to play better — we can still play better than what we did.
“Part of that is them taking us a little bit out the game in the first half. They did a nice job. They were on us. But we were able to figure it out.”
A minute and a half after Dafiaghor’s goal, Nate Kekelik was tripped in the penalty box, with Tsoukalas drilling the PK. With less than 12 minutes left in the half, Kekelik scored on a feed from Evan Dubose, completing a pretty multiple-pass sequence.
The Governors, who allowed two goals the entire regular season, did not seem to respond well after conceding the Mustangs’ first.
Morton regrouped to start the second half, once again showing its ability for the first 25 minutes. But it was too late for the Governors, and the Mustangs added three goals in the final 14 minutes.
Dubose scored on a pass from Eric Salzeider, John Bales scored with a little more than a minute left and Scott Fischer scored a long-distance goal in the waning seconds.
Munster, which has won a state-record 14 straight sectional titles, plays in Wednesday’s semifinals against Clark. That game follows host East Chicago’s matchup against Hammond.
“We have to keep trying to stay alive with this thing,” Prasopoulos said. “We’re excited about this win, but I want us to handle it the right way with our emotions.”
Twitter @MichaelOsipoff
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