Knights Break Through For 2 Second Half Goals Bulldogs, AD's Honor Putney
HEUVELTON - Lisbon used poised ball control and masterful possessions throughout the first half of Thursday's NAC West Boys Soccer game at Heuvelton.
The unbeaten Knights (3-0-1) continued both in the second half and pressed the issue even more aggressively in the offensive end to break through for two goals, a 2-0 victory and a 2-0 start to league play
"Our ball control was excellent throughout the game. Our defenders (Nolan Fletcher, Joe Shoemaker, Kaleb Bertrand) had another great game providing excellent containment and Dan Vallance really marked up well on Dave Putman," said Lisbon Coach Bill Reed.
"They have a good goalie in John Cooper who made some nice saves and in the first half and I think we tried to make that really pretty pass a little too much. In the second half, we were more aggressive on our one-on-ones. Eric Mehaffy worked extremely hard up front and Adam Felt had a very nice game."
The Golden Knights scored their first goal with 28:31 to play in the game when a Scott Lawton chip pass set up Eric Mehaffy and Andy Martin right in front of Cooper. Mehaffy made no mistake lifting the ball over Cooper.
The second goal came after reserve Adam Felt, who scored one goal and set up another in Tuesday's win over Hermon-DeKalb, used some nice one touches and shifty moves to sustain some heavy pressure on the Heuvelton goal. Pressure which culminated in Mike McDonell serving a perfect left footed cross to Martin and the right wing headed the ball back into the lefthand corner of the net with 18:08 to play in the contest.
"Lisbon really did a good job at spreading us out and I think it was good for us to play a game like this early in the season," said Heuvelton Coach Dave Steele. "Lisbon just didn't give us chances but I was happy that we kept playing together throughout the game. We hung in there pretty well."
Cooper finished with 11 saves in the Heuvelton (1-1 West) goal and Lisbon's Jimmy Robinson handled two chances posting his fourth shutout of the season.
The Bulldogs opened their home season wearing the patches which all Heuvelton teams will wear to honor the late Stephanie Putney who served the students of the district for over 30 years as a physical education teacher, coach and athletic director.
Coach Steele, who is also the school's Athletic Director, related that the Section 10 Athletic Directors made a presentation to the Putney family a recent meeting.
