Hargrave 7 – Westover 2
The Tigers started off the fall season with a solid victory over Westover Christian.
Westover scored an early goal, which took Hargrave by surprise, setting a score of 1-0.
The scoreboard would remain unchanged for most of the first half, despite the Tigers’ efforts. The pressure from Hargrave started to wear on Westover’s defense and allowed the Tigers more spaces, but the felines were unable to capitalize on them until late at the end of the first half, when Benjamin Oliver leveled the actions. Halftime arrived and the game was tied 1-1. During the first period, the Tigers made 10 shots on goal with little luck in the cleats of Ben Mills, Ben Oliver, Harrison Williams, Travis Shelton, and Will Bartholomew.
The second period started and the Tigers went ahead in the score two minutes after the whistle, when Ben Oliver(2G) scored his second goal with the assist of Harrison Williams.
A minute later, the Tigers would score again, this time off the cleats of Eric Park, who intercepted a pass in the midfield and in a single run beat Westover’s defense to position himself in front of the goal and send a shot to the far post, setting the score 3-1. The Hargrave Tigers kept pressuring their opponents and produced another goal, this time off the cleats of Ben Mills.
As the game progressed the Tigers gained more confidence and their defense allowed Westover little opportunities. Ward Owen commanded HMA’s defensive block with the support of Victor Milano and Douglas Meehan. Westover approached the Tiger’s goal on only three occasions during the second half, scoring their final goal of the match with 13 minutes left of game time.
During the last 12 minutes of the game the Tigers added three more goals off the cleats of Ben Mills(2G) Harrison Williams(1G) and Eric Park (2G) to leave a final score of 7-2.
Travis Shelton, Harrison Williams, and John Hubbard had shots on goal with no luck.
Michael Rathbun had to leave the game due to problems on his right ankle, after a remarkable job in the midfield . The defensive efforts of Dante Daniels, Joel Joseph, Bryan Lahti, Gio Mauceri, Michael Lowstetter, Will Bartholomew, and goalie Woohyeun Jin kept the very effective Westover’s forwards at bay.
