FREMONT – So much for being shadowed by the opposition.
Dylan Brady
Prior to the season, the Fremont Ross boys soccer team believed its top scorer from last season, Dylan Brady, would have to transition to a role more of a distributor, as opposing teams would be concentrating its efforts on shutting down the 18-goal scorer from last season.
Brady followed up his two-goal season-opening effort Monday with an emphatic five-goal performance Wednesday in a 7-0 stomping of Port Clinton.
“He was getting to the right spots, firing the ball at the net, instead of trying to play around with it,” Ross coach Alex Coressel said. “The biggest thing is all the other guys on offense were all moving the ball really well, which caused their defense to space out and gave him room to be able to work.”
Coressel and the Little Giants know most of their matches won’t be so lopsided and stingier defenses will set their sights on shutting Brady down, but Coressel said his senior is rising to the challenge.
“That’s a big portion of it,” Coressel said. “Plus the other role players are stepping up and, maybe they’re necessarily hitting the back of the net, but they’re moving the ball extremely well and causing defenses to not be able to focus on him because they’re a threat moving forward. It kind of takes a little pressure off him and lets him do what he does best.”
Brady scored all three of Ross’ goals in the first half Wednesday, but despite the three-goal lead, the Little Giants were not pleased with their performance.
Chris Navarro
Mason DeWalt
“It was a very poor first half,” Coressel said. “It was not the best soccer that we can play. We were playing around with the ball too much. We were shooting the ball over the net, we were just not challenging the ball very hard, we were letting them win more of the 50-50 balls.”
Isaac Minor and Mason DeWalt added second-half goals, along with two more from Brady. Chris Navarro had a pair of assists.
“They heard about it at halftime, that’s for sure, and we scored two in the first seven minutes in the second half and put everything away,” Coressel said. “Our kids rose to the occasion and played a whole lot better in the second half.”
Caleb Bennison, in his first start as goalkeeper, picked up the victory, making one save.
Caleb Bennison
“It’s good for him to get a clean sheet,” Coressel said. “He did a very good job in net tonight. Nothing too challenging, but he was able to learn a lot and did some good stuff.”
The victory took some of the sting out of disappointing news the team received Wednesday morning. Ross’ 3-1 victory over Sandusky Perkins was forfeited due to the use of an ineligible player due what Coressel called “a paperwork error.”
Ross’ overall record is 1-1 and the Little Giants return to action Tuesday at Toledo Central Catholic.