When the No. 5 Dover High School soccer team hosted No. 4 Indian River near the beginning of this season, the teams were so evenly matched they finished in a 1-1 tie.

    Things were not so different when the two teams met again in the second round of the state tournament Nov. 8, as regulation ended with the teams tied again, this time at three goals apiece.

    The squads then finished the first overtime with the same result. The second extra period followed with the score still deadlocked at three even.

    This game was different from the regular season, though, as there had to be a winner. That winner was finally decided in the third overtime, when Indian River scored to advance and ended the Senators’ season with 13 wins, four losses and a tie.

    Head coach Paul Booten thought his team was going to get the result they wanted, but said they just could not manage to get the final goal.

    “It was a good game,” Booten said. “In OT I thought we could get that one. As a fan it was a great game to watch, but as a coach it kills you.”

    The Senators got behind early in the game, falling behind 2-0 to IR. The coach said a halftime talk breathed life back into his guys, but even that proved not to be enough.

    “What we said to them at halftime was, ‘If this is going to be your last game, let’s go out the way we want to play,’” Booten said. “They took over in the second half then.

    “In the end we lost though. Soccer is a cruel game, and we were on the cruel end of it that day.”

    Senior keeper Cameron Lucas said while it’s never easy losing, he was proud of his team’s effort, and the fact that they came back and played their best made taking the loss more bearable.

    “I think it made it easier, knowing that we went out playing that hard and giving it everything we had,” Lucas said. “I’m not happy we lost at all but if there is a bright side to it, it’s that we gave it our all.”

    Dover is facing a challenge similar to that of its cross-town and conference rival, Caesar Rodney, as it is also losing the majority of its starters to graduation for next year.

    The Sens will lose two more starters then the Riders, graduating eight of their starting 11, including Lucas.

    “When you lose an all-state keeper that’s not easy to replace,” Booten said. “We’ve got a JV kid that’s done a decent job though, so he should be ready to step up.”

    He said the success of next year’s team would hinge largely on how the returning players elevate their games, along with how the new players adjust to being at the varsity level.

    The JV and junior high programs, Booten said, play a major role in creating a seamless transition like he hopes to have next season.

    “We try to develop our program to where our kids can just step in,” he said. “Our JV team had a great year and the junior high program did very well.

    “Replacing eight players of the caliber of kids we had won’t be easy, but we think we can still play with the best of them,” Booten added. “That’s the way we built our program, when kids get the chance to play they have to step in and be ready.”

Email Brian Citino at brian.citino@doverpost.com