FREMONT – A common refrain of coaches – regardless of the sport – is to focus on what you can control.
No matter the opponent, a team can control its own preparation, its discipline, its focus and its effort. When a team does those things, the result – even a loss – is more palatable.
Tuesday afternoon, hosting Toledo Central Catholic, the intangibles within control of the Fremont Ross boys soccer team weren’t there for the Little Giants in a 4-1 loss to the Irish.
“Lazy first half. We did not communicate too well, which led to their first two goals,” Ross coach Alex Coressel said. “Their third goal was one of the midfielders making no effort to try to go after the ball even though he was only five feet from it.
Chris Navarro
“It was not an Xs and Os thing, it was more of an effort thing and they weren’t in it to start the game.”
Central struck first under eight minutes into the match and led 3-0 at halftime. The fourth goal came in the first minute of the second half, on a header off a corner kick.
“They had their heads down at half, almost like they were defeated already, so we came out of the second half flat as can be to start,” Coressel said.
Ross’ effort increased in the second half, evening the play for the most part. Ross’ only goal, however, came on a Central miscue, as a pass back to the goal was misplayed by the keeper and into the net.
Looking for a spark, Coressel turned to team captain Chris Navarro despite being limited by nagging injuries.
“We put in Chris Navarro, even though he probably shouldn’t have played, not super healthy, but he gave us a little bit of a boost, but he can only do so much,” Coressel said. “It takes 11 guys to have energy and they didn’t.
“It gets frustrating. You want your team to be consistent and we weren’t tonight. You kind of take it, hopefully learn a little bit from it and move on to the next one.”
The Little Giants (5-3 overall, 1-2 TRAC) have a week off to rest and get healthy before they travel to Whitmer on Tuesday.