The Avery soccer team continues to make its push toward the postseason. On Monday, October 18, the Vikings traveled to Columbus for its second contest against the Polk County Wolverines in the past month. The teams played to a scoreless tie at MacDonald Stadium earlier this season, but the Wolverines took a narrow 3-2 win in the encore.
The Vikings played without the services of injured defender Heraclio Flores, but drew first blood offensively in the match as Jorge Arreola scored off an assist by Daniel Lusk just two minutes into the contest.
Avery continued to find itself with opportunities to add to its lead, but struggled to finish at the Wolverine net. Polk County scored the equalizer 26 minutes into the first half of play as the force of a shot ricocheted the ball off the hands of Viking keeper Alex Magner and momentum carried the ball into the net to knot the score at 1-1. On the play defender Brock Yackey turned an ankle and was forced to come off the field, leaving Avery down a pair of defenders.
Shortly after the goal, Polk stole a ball from Avery and scored a quick second goal. Despite the team trailing in the half, Avery head soccer coach Tom Evaul was pleased with how his shorthanded team continued to battle.
“I was proud of the guys because here we find ourselves without two key defenders playing a good team and we are down 2-1, but we are fighting hard for every ball and denying them any more threatening runs on goal,” Evaul said after the match.
At the 37-minute mark, Avery’s Zack Stranged crossed a ball to the weak side of the Polk goal, where teammate Justin Gragg’s foot met the ball to send it in goal for his first goal of the season to tie the match at 2-2 at intermission.
Avery made defensive adjustments during the halftime break, but the Wolverines quickly scored a third goal to take a 3-2 lead.
"We had to adjust at halftime with Brock and Heraclio out which hurt our offense because we had to move Javier back and Daniel back to defense,” Evaul explained. “On the kickoff, Polk puts in their third goal of the game.”Avery had chances to tie the match in the second half, but the Vikings couldn’t find the goal to equal the match.
“It was a tough loss, but easier to swallow considering our lack of two key defenders, and the fact that the guys played their hearts out during the whole game and refused to give in to Polk,” Evaul said.
On Wednesday, October 20, the Vikings returned home to face the Madison Patriots. Avery got off to a slow start against the visitors from Marshall, and the two teams ended the first half scoreless.
“We came out not mentally focused. We were doing some good things both on offense and defense, but nothing sustainable,” Evaul said of the first half of the contest. “Madison came at us with more intensity than they did at their place. We were leading 6-0 at halftime when we played them there, and all of a sudden we find ourselves 0-0 at half. I told them at halftime that it was a mental thing, and they were not focused enough to accomplish the things we needed to accomplish in order to not only score, but to keep them from scoring as well.
The second half proved to be a matter of “different half, different story” as the Vikings took charge in dominant fashion. At the 44 minute mark, Isauro Estrada took a cross pass from Arreola and placed a shot in the right corner of the net for a 1-0 lead. Six minutes later, Estrada left a through pass for Lusk, who used his speed to outrun the defense and tally his first of three goals for the night.
At the 65 minute mark, Lusk crossed the ball to the right side of the field, where Strange lobbed the ball over the keeper’s hands for a goal. In the 78th minute Lusk doubled his pleasure as he tallied a pair of breakaway goals, one assisted by Flores and he other by Javier Bravo.
Avery outshot Madison 27-5 in the match, while Viking keeper Magner made three saves
“The coaching staff was pleased with the way the team came out to play the second half, but again were frustrated with the inconsistency of mentally preparing for each game and playing soccer to the high level from the start that they are capable of playing, which we emphasized at the end of the game and in practice the rest of the week.” Evaul added. “Hopefully they will have learned, and come out ready to play the final two games of the season.”
Notes: The Vikings recognized youth soccer players and coaches at halftime of the Madison match. Avery will hold Senior Night this Wednesday, October 27th. Senior players will be honored prior to the match, while the Avery 2010 NCHSAA 1A runner-up girls soccer team will be recognized at halftime of the Mitchell match.
