Fredonia’s Juan Matias possesses the ball during Thursday’s playoff game against the Eden Raiders. OBSERVER Photo by Anthony Dolce.

EDEN — The Fredonia Hillbillies boys soccer season came to an end in a nail-biter, as the Eden Raiders scrapped out a 1-0 win on Thursday night in the Section VI, Class B2 quarterfinals at Eden High School.

“It was very hard fought,” said Eden coach Tom Wall. “Fredonia played great. It came down to a scrappy goal. They were great on defense. This is what happens when two evenly-matched teams play.”

Eden (4-seed) finally broke the ice at the 26 minute mark of the second half, when Trevor Masocco beat out Fredonia goalkeeper Tyler Rosen for a ball and chipped it through into the open net.

The two teams played a tight first half, and while Eden maintained most of the possession, they weren’t able to get any quality shots as the Fredonia (5-seed) defensive backline held firm.

“Our kids left everything out there,” said Fredonia coach Jim Rush. “Eden is a team that scored 60 goals this season and we held them to one. We did a great job shutting them down. I’m so proud of this group and what we’ve accomplished.”

The Eden goal came just after Fredonia’s Juan Matias put a beautiful ball on net that was stopped by Eden keeper Miles Coleman. Eden’s Coleman had to make a few big saves, but that one proved to be the biggest.

“He played really well,” said Wall, of Coleman. “He was a little late off the line in the first half but he did much better in the second half, so that was a great adjustment by him.

Rosen meanwhile was every bit as excellent as Coleman, as both keepers had to make some strong saves, with Rosen making a big stop off a cross in the 14th minute of the second half, and an outstanding diving save with just seven minutes to play to keep the ‘Billies alive.

“Tyler Rosen has been outstanding for us all year,” Rush said. “We’ve been grooming him for this for two years. He made two excellent saves and I knew he’d make the saves he needed to make.”

Despite the loss, Rush knows that his team gave it their all and played to the best of their abilities.

“Its tough someone had to lose that one,” Rush said. “Unfortunately it was us, but we played outstanding. When we get this deep in, we know every game is going to be tight. We had our opportunities, but they put one by us. That’s just how it goes sometimes.”

Eden survives to advance in the postseason, where the Raiders will play Saturday, Oct. 26 at 2 p.m. against Southwestern, who defeated Alden 2-1 on Thursday.

Fredonia, meanwhile, sees its season come to an end, along with the careers of Tyler Rosen, Michael Dispense, Nathan Hall and Alex Maytum. Outside of those three, everyone on the Billies will return next season. Rush is thankful his team got this experience.

“We lose the four seniors but have a lot coming back,” Rush said. “A lot of them got to see this and experienced a game of this magnitude, while we had several also who got to soak it in on the bench. They’re all excited, they know this is fun to be a part of. They’re a group of friends just having fun.”

The ‘Billies finish their season with a record of 7-7-2, after starting the season 0-3-1.