POLAND — Patrtick Kuklinski rushed to the net, hoping something — anything — might happen.

A seemingly harmless shot by Tom Flint in the closing seconds of Thursday’s game turned into something memorable. Kuklinski collected the rebound and put it home with three seconds left to lift the Poland boys’ soccer team to a 3-2 come-from-behind win over Traip.

“I can’t really take credit for that,” Kuklinski said. “Tom and Owen (Priola) made it happen. Tom got the poke on it. It wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t done that.”

Poland rallied with two goals in the final 4:31. That was after Traip stunned the Knights with two goals six minutes apart that erased a 1-0 Poland lead.

“It feels pretty good, said Kuklinski, who finished with two goals for the Knights (2-2). “We had two rough losses against Cape and Yarmouth. It feel really good to win like this.”

Kyle Radziszewski added a goal and an assist for the Knights, including the tying tally on a penalty kick.

Playing winless Traip, a Class C team, the Knights knew Thursday’s match was one they needed to have. Poland controlled most of the play but found itself down with 11 minutes to go.

“We look at our schedule and no game is easy,” said Poland coach Kris Wright, whose team was ranked sixth in Western B with the win. “We’ve got a really tough conference. We have to be able to win games in order to have a hope. This was one of those ones that we had pencil-marked as not only a winnable game, but one that we really needed.”

It wasn’t one that came easy, though. Poland possessed the ball well and had some great chances in the first half but couldn’t score. Traip’s freshman keeper Sam Emerson made 15 saves in goal and did a nice job keeping the Rangers close. Traip was playing with five freshmen starters.

“I’ve got to hand it to Traip,” Wright said. “They played their hearts out. I was impressed with them. They never gave up, especially playing so many younger guys. They controlled the ball at times and had us on our heels. I’ve got to tip my hat to them. They made it very difficult for us in the first half. We felt like we knew what we wanted to do but couldn’t get it done because they were playing so well.”

Poland got the lead early in the second half. Just 5:17 in, a Radziszewski corner was redirected in front by Kuklinski.

The Knights had a chance to build on that lead but a bid by Radziszewski on another corner hit the crossbar.

Then with 17:15 left, Traip got the equalizer on a shot from the outside by Josh Schnier. Though Poland got chances by Radziszewski and Alex Biron in front, it was Traip that broke the tie. Schnier sent a pass ahead that sprung Alex Bailey for a breakaway. He put in a low shot to the right of Poland keeper Zachary Lowe.

“It’s a situation that we’ve been in before, but it’s not a result we’ve gotten from that situation before,” Wright said. “So I’m really pleased with the spark of energy at the end to dig down and find that extra little bit that they could give.”

The sense of urgency led to a persistent offensive push down the stretch. One rush was a Ben Campbell possession in the box on the right side. When he was taken down, a penalty shot was called. Radziszewski made it count with 4:31 left in regulation.

“I knew we had to get a goal,” Radziszewski said. “I knew the team was on me about it. There was a lot of pressure, but I’ve practiced it and it worked out.”

His shot to the right side hit the net inside the post to tie it 1-1. Traip then lost Schnier to a yellow card after protesting the penalty kick.

Traip had the chance to get the lead back when Bailey had too much space in front. His open shot was too high and went over the net with 4:03 left.

Poland had the best of the opportunities late. Flint had a rush in the final seconds and put a shot toward the net. Emerson made a diving save at the left post, but he couldn’t secure the ball after getting a single hand on it. Kuklinski won the race to the rebound.

“Coach always tells us to crash the net on shots,” Kuklinski said. “I just happened to be there – right place at the right time. He coughed it up, and I got a poke on it. I knew it was under 10 seconds. So I was charging as hard as I could.”

Wright would have liked to have seen his team take care of business a little sooner, but his Knights’ response down the stretch was a wonderful sign.

“Once we decided to start possessing the ball and moving it quickly, we turned that back into our favor and put some pressure on their goal,” Wright said.

kmills@sunjournal.com

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