Sure as the splendor when the leaves turn in Hunting Valley or those trademark postmatch boxes of candy, there is a certain consistency to University this time of year. Even if the personnel in the US 11 may turn at the unusually high rate at which it did from last fall to this one. But much like the prematch warmup that foreshadowed it was coming, the Preppers’ Division III sectional final Oct. 19 against visiting Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin carried all the standard signatures of seizing a result and not letting go. Now they just want that consistency to be on display for the foreseeable future. Eric Madureira delivered a brilliant assist on Pierson Cerar’s opening-40 strike and contributed one of his own for key cushion after halftime amid US’ 4-1 win over the Lions. The Preppers go to 9-4-4 and will host Norton in a D-III Northeast 1 District semifinal Oct. 24. Between a sterling display of possession and off-ball flow in the opening 40 and ability to control the match throughout in turn, there was plenty of reason for US coach John Ptacek to spread the postmatch candy far and wide to his side. “I thought we did a really nice job of being able to spread the ball out wide,” Ptacek said. “I thought Gavin Sheppard had a fantastic game, connecting our backs to our attacking midfielders and forward. I attribute his work today to our success.” The Preppers built a 3-0 lead by the 34th minute. Joe Gilligan put away a penalty kick in the 12th minute to open the US account. Then in the 19th, Madureira capped a heady endline run with a clever touch into the six and served for Cerar, who put away the finish for his fourth goal of 2024 and a 2-0 Preppers’ lead. Borden put a punctuation on US’ brimming form in the attack in the 34th, latching onto the final ball of a quick two-touch switch, getting to his right foot and slotting low-90, his side-high sixth goal of the fall. Since I couldn't post them in real time, here are all 3 US goals from the opening 40Joe Gilligan PK in the 12th, Pierson Cerar off Eric Madureira service in the 19th & Alex Borden in the 34th pic.twitter.com/32hzUMba3r — Chris Lillstrung (@CLillstrungNH) October 19, 2024 “I think it was just fun to play out there,” Madureira said. “When we play one-touch, two-touch, it just flows. That’s one of the issues that we have had, getting attacking chances going and going. And today, we just found that rhythm. And once we found that rhythm, we weren’t really going to stop.” NDCL (6-6-6) attempted to provide itself a path back into the match in the 37th. Standout attacker Ryan Cvitkovic collected Luka Sesar service and banged home a strike wide and side net, the 16th goal of his junior campaign. Much to the visitors’ lament and hosts’ pleasure, though, that proved to be NDCL’s lone shot on target, spearheaded by noteworthy work in the middle of the park by the aforementioned Sheppard and Rocco Di Censo. US senior Rocco Di Censo discusses his side's 4-1 D3 sectional final win over visiting NDCL to get to 9-4-4 pic.twitter.com/Jqfar8ks83 — Chris Lillstrung (@CLillstrungNH) October 19, 2024 Madureira contributed the final margin in the 54th, getting onto a Di Censo free kick for a finish, his third goal of the season. “That second goal, with my assist, I just got it on the outside, and once you get on the outside, I’ve been trying to do this all year,” Madureira said. “If I’m going to get it on the outside, I’m going to try and take him on. Because if I take him on, it just opens up so much space. He opened up his legs, so I just put it right through, and then I found Pierson. “(My) goal, that was all Rocco and Alex. Alex drew that foul. Alex was attacking and attacking, and they were just fouling and fouling. Rocco found me, and I wasn’t going to miss from there.” Lions goalkeeper Kristian Mazur had a laudable stretch in the 53rd with a four-save sequence, the middle two against looks by Sheppard and Maduriera, as part of a nine-save afternoon. While senior-heavy, US came into 2024 lacking starting-11 experience to an extent not seen in recent memory. But the Preppers appear to be a side peaking at the right juncture, on a five-match unbeaten run that included a 1-1 draw with Hudson WRA that was big for confidence. Sure as the leaves or the candy, US wants nothing more than another one of those deep postseason runs as well. “We have great captains,” Madureira said. “Nate (Ford) and Aaron (Moss) especially have tremendous amounts and experience, and so they’ve kind of helped us out. It helped out some of these younger guys coming in. Obviously, we have a pretty old squad, I think 16 or 17 seniors. So it’s an old squad, but I think that’s kind of helped us gain some leadership. Everybody’s kind of a leader on the team. Then we’ve got a few juniors. They’ve really stepped up. “You can’t even tell some of these guys haven’t played a varsity game before this year.” THE SCORE University 4, NDCL 1