Boys soccer: Quick goal enough as Avon shuts out Wellington
Bob Daniels | The Chronicle-Telegram
AVON — Wellington’s boys couldn’t do in 80 minutes what Avon freshman Dan Brown accomplished in less than three on Monday afternoon. That was score a goal.
It led to the Dukes’ downfall in a brisk non-conference soccer match between two of Lorain County’s top Division II teams. Brown’s goal was enough to win. But the Eagles, who improved to 7-3-1, got another from freshman Ryan Repas later in the first half to seal a 2-0 victory.
“I thought we came out with the right lineup, but we didn’t,” said Wellington coach Bill Bogan, whose Dukes fell to 8-3-1. “But it was late, we were down 2-0 before I made the changes. Life goes on. I thought we controlled the game in the second half and late in the first half. But by that time, we had already given up two.”
Not only that, the Dukes were shut down by an Avon defense that allowed just seven total shots, three of which were on goal. Of the latter, two were handled routinely by Andrew Wimmer, the Eagles’ senior goalkeeper. The third nearly put Wellington back in the game, but Wimmer made a highlight-film save.
Brown put the Eagles up 1-0 when he knocked a header into the Wellington net with an assist from senior Nolan Saini in the third minute. Nineteen minutes later, the freshman Repas scored into the right corner with an assist from junior Quinn Rambo.
Everyone could have gone home then. It’s just as well no one did, because, as Bogan noted, the Dukes came to life in the second half and gave themselves a chance to catch up. They nearly scored in the 41st minute when freshman Nick Dowdell fired a shot right on Wimmer.
And they appeared to score in the 54th minute when junior Chris Coker kicked the ball into the Avon goal. But the Dukes were flagged offside on the play.
Then came the Dukes’ best chance of the game and Wimmer’s big save. On the restart after an Avon foul, junior Ben Bogan put a kick right at Dowdell, who was stationed in front of the Eagles goal. Dowdell got off a header that looked as though it might sneak in past the left goalpost.
“I usually just try to set it in for any of our players, whoever crashes gets it,” Bogan said of the restart. “I hope someone gets up for it and I saw Nick going up and I applaud him. A lot of times, people don’t get up for it.”
“I saw the space open and I went in,” Dowdell said. “I got that touch on the ball, but, unfortunately, it didn’t go in.”
Not so unfortunate from Wimmer’s point of view.
“I just tried to get to it and get a hand on it,” said Wimmer, whose play helped preserve his seventh shutout of the season. “I wanted to knock it out of bounds so we could reset everything. But luckily I hit it straight down and I was able to get on it.”
Avon coach Chris Dore said his team’s play was a little spotty.
“It was a 0-0 second half,” Dore said. “They played tougher and we played down compared to the first half. I was a little discouraged about not putting a full game together, but, at the same time, I think we played well against a pretty competitive team.”
Avon 2, Wellington 0
GOALS: (A) Dan Brown (3rd minute), Ryan Repas (22nd minute).
ASSISTS: (A) Nolan Saini, Quinn Rambo.
SHOTS: Wellington 7, Avon 23.
SHOTS ON GOAL: Wellington 3, Avon 10.
SAVES: (W) Matthew Coley 9, (A) Andrew Wimmer 6.
CORNER KICKS: Wellington 1, Avon 1.
GOAL KICKS: Wellington 4, Avon 7.
OFFSIDE: Wellington 1, Avon 6.
HAND BALLS: Wellington 1.
FOULS: Wellington 9, Avon 12.
CARDS: (W) Michael Coley (yellow), 68th minute.
HALFTIME: Avon, 2-0.
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Filed by Bob Daniels | The Chronicle-Telegram September 30th, 2008 in Sports. Popularity: 4% |
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