TOLEDO – Every time the Whitmer Panther pushed Tuesday night, the Little Giants boys soccer team pushed back.
Ross went on the road against its Three Rivers Athletic Conference rival and played, perhaps, its best match of the season and returned home with a 3-2 victory.
“We played our butts off, to be real honest,” said Ross coach Alex Coressel.
Ayden Carter
Brady Wolfe
The Little Giants took the early lead off an unassisted goal by Brady Wolfe but Whitmer scored later in the half to tie it going into halftime.
“First goal they put in we thought they were offsides, (goalkeeper) Carlos (Pena) got very frustrated and upset with himself but I talked to him at halftime and said, ‘We’re going to need you,’” Coressel said. “There a couple times he came up extremely big, he took charge of his box tonight and persevered through a couple calls that maybe weren’t the best, but he came up with the win.”
With Pena holding down the fort in the defensive end, the offense gave him a lead to work with. Eight minutes into the second half, Wolfe sent a ball to Ayden Carter who chipped the ball over the keeper and into the net to retake the lead.
Carlos Pena
Alec Slemmer
Whitmer, however, again tied the game. There, the score remained until about 12 minutes left in the second half, when the ball found Alec Slemmer.
“A ball came out to Slemmer at the top of the box, he chested it down and gave it an absolute rocket of a shot under the crossbar past the keeper.”
Added Coressel: “Brady Wolfe had a very good offensive night tonight. …Defensively, Mason DeWalt had a phenomenal night, holding their leading scorer to no goals, which is huge, was part of our gameplan. Michael Harper and Victor Martinez, they were the only two guys we played off the bench tonight and they played some huge minutes to give some other guys some breaks.”
The victory lifts Ross’ overall record to 6-3 and is now 2-2 in the TRAC.
“The way the guys came out and played, they played with complete guts and heart tonight,” Coressel said. “They got a little tired before the first half was over, but they gutted it out. There were some strong challenges, it was a very physical game. But every time Whitmer would answer we’d find a way to step it up another notch and have another level.”
Ross returns to action Thursday when the Little Giants travel to Tiffin Columbian.