Sept. 14, 2007 – Eastern Mennonite Game Stats
In the first game of the EMHS Invitational the Hargrave Tigers (2-2) were faced with opening against the host school, and the fourth ranked team in the state the Eastern Mennonite Flames (5-1-1) on Friday. Led by two goals from substitute Austin Shank of Eastern Mennonite the Flames outshot the Tigers on their way to a 4-1 win.
On a rainy afternoon Eastern Mennonite opened the scoring 18 minutes into the match with a goal from forward Mitchell Leap with the dish from midfielder Byrce Shank. Just over a minute later the Tigers had not yet recovered from the Flames’ goal as the host team was able to take the 2-0 advantage from a goal from Shank just following his helper to Leap on the Flames first. Right wing midfielder Zach Stoltzfus was credited with the assist.
Despite going down 2-0 on quick tallies back-to-back from Eastern Mennonite the Tigers were able to still maintain some good possession throughout the midfield from senior Scott Dinius and junior Kenny Mattimore. Nearing the 28th minute of play Dinius would create an opportunity for the Tigers on a through-ball to junior forward Edwin Choi. Choi was brought down in the box, and the Tigers were awarded the penalty. Dinius stepped up to the spot for the Tigers and finished the play he began to cut the Eastern Mennonite lead to 2-1. With strong defensive and midfield play to finish the half the Tigers would take the one goal deficit into the half.
The rainy conditions continued into the second half as Eastern Mennonite came out firing early-on. Just seven minutes into the half Austin Shank scored his first of two follow-up goals to give the Flames the 3-1 at the 47:21 mark. Hargrave goalkeeper Nathan Bloom made a superb initial save with a shot from Leap, but could not secure the rebound as Shank followed the shot to give the Flames the two goal advantage. Just over six minutes later Shank followed suit with another follow-up put-back that followed in the same matter as his first goal. On yet another Leap shot from just outside the penalty box Bloom was able to get hands-on for another great diving save, but could not preserve the rebound as Shank finished with the follow-up to give the Flames the 4-1 lead.
The scoreline would remain the same to the final whistle as the Flames outshot the Tigers 20-5. The Tiger’s Nathan Bloom finished with 10 saves in the match on 14 Flame shots on goal.
