2007 Titans
5/17/07 - Tri-Center NeolaGreat night for soccer, temperature in the 60's and hardly any wind. We were on the road for the first round of the playoffs and the road to state. Everyone is 0-0, playing on level ground and looking for their chance to advance. We play Tri-Center at Neola. Our challenge tonight is to see how we play in a game that we are expected to win. Our fear becomes the obvious, we start the game and we play down to the level of the competition. This over time can bite you if you don't take care of business and start to score. Within the first 5 minutes of the game we are on a constant attack, we have 5 corner kicks back to back and 6 throw ins and come up empty every time. Then 11 minutes in we score our first goal as Logan Stichler sends a through ball to Kyle Larkin. Kyle finds himself all alone behind the defense and is able to put the shot to the far post and we are up 1-0. Then 6 minutes later Brandon Duffy takes the throw in. He sends a perfect ball into the middle in front of the goal. Evan Summy heads the ball once, it bounces off of a Tri-Center player and rebounds back to Evan. Evan heads it a second time and this time he scores, 2-0. Twenty minutes later Tri-Center is called for a foul. Nate Dreager sets the ball down and hits it on goal from 40 yards out. It travels to the upper corner and far post and we go up 3-0. It was a pretty shot and best of all it was nice to see LC on the scoring side inside of the giving side this time. (ie Mt Michael). We go into the half 3-0 and for some reasons it just doesn't feel good. We are playing well but yet at times playing sloppy. They did have a couple break away' in the first half, it is just good that Riley Landolt stopped them or they shot wide. It could have easily been 3-2. I challenge them to slow down the game, take control, and move the ball around. We warn them that just one missed ball, a quick goal, and we are suddenly in a dog fight. Stay focused and slow down. We start the second half and they are applying a little more pressure as expected but no one does any scoring for the first 30 minutes. We are now starting to sub everyone in and working to get them all some playoff playing time. The bench played very well tonight and continued to control the game. It was good to be able to get everyone into the game. Then with 10 minutes left in the game Chris Navarrete makes a move and decides to carry the ball up the field. Being a defender he doesn't get to do that very often. He does a great job pulling the defenders toward him and just at the right moment he plays a great through ball to Adam Larkin. Adam beats the defense and finds himself one on one. Unlike Tuesday night against Thomas Jefferson, Adam has some patience, waits for the keeper to make his move, then sends the ball to the far post. What a great pass and a great goal. I asked Adam what was going through his head, and he said I better not miss this one. He didn't, 4-0. 3 minutes later on a set play after a foul called on Tri-Center, Kyle Herren sets the ball about 30 yards out. He hits the ball to the back side and Roberto Gaytan is right there. Roberto puts the ball in the net. 5th and final goal of the game. Riley Landolt logs his 18 career shutout and 6 shutout of the season, and Zane Brugenhemke came in to log the save. This in it's own way was a sloppy game, good game, frustrating game, but yet we won 5-0. It was an overall team effort. We will have to play at a whole different level on Saturday as we travel again for round two of the playoffs. We will travel to Adel to play ADM. Take I-80 toward Des Moines. Take the Winterset / Adel exit, Hwy 169. Travel left or North to Adel. You will run right into the High School. Thank you for your support tonight and we look forward to seeing you again on Saturday at noon at Adel. |
| Thank you all for your support and your visits to our page. Keep checking back I will post different things off and on. Interested in how the boys did and what they look like, then check out the 2007 Varsity Squad & Stats and 2007 Junior Varsity Squad & Stats pages to see our running season stats. Check back again for more comments. |