Apex scratches out 3-0 win
October 10th, 2007 Posted in High School Soccer
By: Matt Beeman (link to Matt’s blog)
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JV game result:
Green Hope JV soccer (photo link):2
Apex JV soccer (photo link): 2
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In a first half that saw 6 cards and 2 ejections, the Apex Cougars (photo highlights link) led 1-0 going into the half and secured the win, and probably a conference championship, with 2 late goals over the Green Hope Falcons (photo highlights link) for the 3-0 shutout.
At the start of the game, Apex immediately brought pressure to the Green Hope defense with a shot from Mike Smith that had to be deflected by Green Hope goalkeeper Alex Long to give Apex the corner kick. Apex followed with 3 more shots in the first 4 minutes, all saved by Long. Apex goalkeeper’s Ryan Hanson only handle of the ball came in the 6th minute off of a bad defensive clear that rolled back to him under pressure.
The Green Hope attack came alive in the 11th minute, only to be restrained by the center referee’s issuing yellow cards to Green Hope’s Kyle Bandy for dissent, and minutes later to Green Hope’s Nick Butterly. Martin Murphy found himself on a run toward the goal, only to be called back by a questionable offside play in the 13th minutes.
A yellow card was then issued to Apex’s Ryan Duffy in the 15th minute, again for dissent. Apex settled back into their attacking rhythm and saw 3 shots easily saved or punched out by Long. Green Hope again surged back into the attacking end, only to find their long range shot easily saved by Hanson.
Mike Smith of Apex created the Cougars best scoring chance of the game in the 32nd minute, as he chased down a back-pass from the Green Hope defense to force a bad clearance by Long to go out on the sideline deep in the Apex attacking zone. Off the ensuing throw-in, Apex calmly maintained possession for almost a minute, but forward Zac Tigner couldn’t find a way to get the ball near the goal and lost it to the Green Hope defense.
Moments later, Green Hope’s Nick Butterly earned an ejection due to a second yellow card after the take down of a Apex player just outside the box. The ensuing free kick for Apex would have been good for 3 points in football, as the ball sailed well over the goal between the uprights.
Apex finally struck in the 34th minute when after a punch-save by Long, Apex’s Ryan Duffy took an errant shot from about 40 yards out on the right side. It appeared the ball would be heading wide, but Matt Thompson found himself on the far post to redirect the ball into the left side of the net, past Long, who was still recovering his position from the punch save.
As the half wound down, Duffy and Thompson found themselves confused, along with the rest of the fans, after a collision between Thompson and goalkeeper Alex Long in the box. Duffy, who was a few yards away, was nearly chased off the field as the referee appeared to issue 2 yellow cards and the red card to Duffy as he was walking off the pitch. After conversation between the referee and Apex coach Kevin Todd, Duffy remained on the field, while Thompson had been ejected and remained on the bench for the remainder of the game.
Green Hope brought their offensive pressure out at the start of the 2nd half, earning three corner kicks in the first 5 minutes of the half. The Apex defense held tight. Green Hope’s best chance at a goal came 12 minutes into the half as a pass came back to a Falcon attack at the top of the box after his teammate had battle to the right endline. The Falcon attacker missed the ball on his swing, and the follow up shot from another attacker went slowly bouncing toward the goal. After a failed clear by the Cougar defense, Apex goalkeeper Hanson pounced on the ball after a slight bobble.
Apex came right back into the Green Hope defensive end as Cougar Mike Smith put a low shot toward the left post, to which Long did not respond, as it appeared to be going wide. The ball bounced square off the left post and the Cougar attackers couldn’t put a foot on the rebound.
With the score at 1-0 going into the final 20 minutes of the game, both teams quickened their pace of play through the midfield. Green Hope earned a few corner kicks, but could not capitalize on anything in their attacking end.
In the 67th minute, Apex struck again as Kyle Bacon and Michael Smith combined for some quick passes down the left side in a limited amount of space as they were covered by 4 Falcon defenders. Bacon’s last pass into Smith brought out goalkeeper Long, but Smith’s redirection when bouncing under the goalkeeper and into the far side of the new.
The Green Hope missed another opportunity in the 71st minute as another volley was mis-struck and cleared by the Apex defense. Green Hope also had a free kick from 25 yards, which was also struck as field goal and sailed over the crossbar.
Apex sealed the game with another goal in the 75th minute by Kyle Bacon breakaway goal shot to the far right post, assisted by a leading pass from Mike Smith.
With the win, Apex moves to 13-0-2 overall and 9-0-1 in conference play and has almost assured themselves a Tri-8 conference championship with a 2 game lead over Green Hope and Athens Drive High School with 4 conference games to be played. Apex holds the tiebreaker over both teams, so would only surrender the conference championship by losing 3 of the 4 remaining games. Green Hope falls to 12-2-2 and 6-2-1 in conference play.
DISCIPLINE:
GH: Bandy (Yellow - Dissent) , Butterly (Yellow - Dissent, 2nd Yellow / Soft Red- Unsporting Behavior)
APEX: Duffy (Yellow - Dissent), Thompson (Yellow - Unsporting Behavior , 2nd Yellow / Soft Red - Dissent)
SCORING:
APEX: Matt Thompson (Ryan Duffy) 34
APEX: Mike Smith (Kyle Bacon) 67
APEX: Kyle Bacon (Mike Smith) 75
STARTERS:
APEX: Forsyth, Bacon, Duffy, Thompson, Tigner, McNeely, Stewart, Palmer, Manning, Smith, Hanson
GH: Long, Butterly, Sorenson, Steele, Murphy, Girard, Bandy, Taylor, Steele, Dapkevich, Smith
[where: 27502]
