The Milford High School boys’ soccer program may have missed out on the opportunity to send its senior players out with a trip to the state tournament, but the Bucs still sent the seniors out in style.

Milford beat the Appoquinimink Jaguars 3-1 on Oct. 30, ending the season with a two-game winning streak and a 7-8-1 overall record.

“It feels good,” head coach Ken Outten said. “We started the season on a win, and it’s nice to end on a win.

“We had a tough season, played a lot of tough games, so it’s nice to end with the morale high.”

The Bucs scored first against Appoquinimink when Aricles Florestal knocked the ball in with 11:01 remaining in the second half.

But the Jaguars wouldn’t go away easily, scoring a goal with approximately 25 seconds remaining in the game to tie the score at 1-1 and send the game into overtime.

“(Appoquinimink) played the way I expected,” Outten said. “I knew these guys weren’t going to be a pushover.”

After a scoreless first 10 minutes, the Bucs took control for the final 5 minutes. Senior Guerdy Edmonds scored with 4:54 remaining to give Milford a 2-1 lead, and senior Joan Carranza put Milford up 3-1 by scoring with less than 2 minutes remaining.

Milford finished the game with 18 shots on goal, while goalkeeper Leones Florestal recorded 12 saves. Milford’s offense had eight corner kicks.

The Jaguars had six shots on goal, and nine goalkeeper saves.

The victory followed a 4-0 win over Campus Community, Oct. 28 at Campus Community in Dover.

Edmonds and fellow senior Edgar Ramirez each scored once, while senior Robens Legros scored twice.

Overall Outten was happy with how the team improved from the start of the season to the end. While he didn’t feel like the team unity was quite there, he felt the Bucs made big steps, despite having to meld different cultures together. The team featured large groups of Haitian and Hispanic players.

“The division was a little bit of an obstacle,” Outten said. “It just takes awhile to build (chemistry).”

However, by the end of the season, other coaches in the Henlopen Conference were commenting on the improvements the Bucs had made. Outten said the head coach from Delmar told him the word around the conference is the Bucs are “180 degrees different” from last season, and they are an “offensive threat” each time they touch the ball.

“We have turned the corner,” Outten said. “It’s nice to hear those words of affirmation from other coaches in the conference.”