By Bill Bray
OREGON – The boys soccer team travelled to Oregon Clay Tuesday evening for a TRAC battle and lost after a hard-fought game.
The scoring started at the 32:54 when Oregon’s Carson Langford scored on a penalty kick. Proof that there was pushing and shoving happening. The Eagles were aggressive and physical and held possession of the ball during the first six minutes of the half.
At the 27:01 the Giants got on the board as Ayden Carter boomed a kick from nearly 40 yards away that found the net after the Oregon goalie misplayed the ball as everyone watched the kick end up in the Fremont goal to tie the game at 1-1.
On the second penalty kick of the night from Jared Johanni, the Eagles took the lead back at the 15:25. But again the Giants (8-6-1) came back to tie the score before the end of the physical first half when Carter again found the net displaying speed and quickness with 10:56 remaining in the half. That was the end of the scoring for the half as the teams continued to battle.
It was thought that Oregon Clay was playing tired after they had been in a similar battle the night before as they travelled to Ashland and were defeated 5-1. But the Eagles took flight during the 40-minute second period and overtook the Giants who were continuing to fight and claw. The game remained at 2-2 during the first 20 plus minutes of the half. Logan Baacke made some great saves in goal and Haydn Marsee, Bryce Estep along with Evan Garcia defended the Eagles and continued to battle.
Clay (7-8-1) took control during the final five minutes of the game. The Eagles’ Adam Hanson finally broke the tie at the 4:08 with an Eagles goal. They weren’t done there. With the Giants on their heels, the Eagles iced the win at the 2:10 when senior Zack Wells found the Giants net to make the final 4-2, Eagles.
“We battled hard but when you have chances to score you have to finish the chances and we didn’t.” coach Alex Coressel said after the TRAC battle. “It was our first game after a week off and we need to respond to their physicality, and we just didn’t.”
The Giants are right back at it Wednesday as they travel to Tiffin to take on the 2-10-3 Tornadoes.