Hot starts, cool finishes set up boys' soccer sectional finals at Martinsville
MARTINSVILLE — Lighting a fire is one thing, playing with it another.
The Bloomington South boys' soccer team was ignited by a pair of goals in the first six minutes, a dream start for a squad that had to sweat out a 2-1 win over host Martinsville in Monday's Class 3A sectional opener.
But Wednesday's opponent, Terre Haute South found a goal with 23 minutes left to halftime and suddenly, the Panthers were back on the one-goal edge again. The defense maintained its domination as the Braves had no shots on goal the rest of the game, but it wasn't until Joe DeGiorgio's goal gave South some relief with 12:49 left that the eventual 4-1 win felt safely in hand.
"I think sometimes we do a little too much," South coach Corbin Calvert said. "We want to dribble too much or take a few guys on a little too much at the end there, when all we need to do is just shoot.
"And that's what Joe did. He said I'm going to take a chance and then it went in. It wasn't the prettiest goal but a goal's a goal. I just say, put it on frame, make it dangerous, be there to crash and you're making it a tough situation for them. And when you do that, anything can happen."
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The win vaults the Panthers (14-1-3) into Saturday's 7 p.m. final against Center Grove (9-5-2), which handled Bloomington North in similar fashion, 4-0.
The score did end up reflecting just how strong South's performance was. The Panthers had a 15-1 edge in shots, 10-1 on goal, 8-2 in corner kicks, proof they had better adjusted to the field conditions.
"So much better," Calvert said. "We were actually able to move it around the best we could and do combinations and switch the field. It was night and day difference (from Monday). And Tom Henry (Berry) as a freshman he just tore up the middle of the field. He cold do whatever he wanted in the middle. That was his best game by far."
DeGiorgios' goal came off his corner kick from right of goal that Sebastian Brena-Ochoa headed back into the empty area right of the box. DeGiorgios dribbled right and from an acute angle fired and the ball slipped past the keeper and in.
"With that 2-1 lead last game, it was too close for us," DeGiorgio said. "I felt like we came out flat-footed in the second half, but we turned around this game, came out with energy, got two early, that got us going. We just knew we had to get one more and it would be over."
Just to be sure Brena-Ochoa beat three Braves, curled to the left side of the net and poked it through the keepers' legs with just 4:26 remaining.
Another fast start
Again the Panthers jumped all over their opponents from the opening whistle.
Their first goal came just 1:28 in as Brena-Ochoa took a long feed, got a shot off that hammered the crossbar and the rebound fell to Landon Ryner for the easy putback.
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About four minute later, Bloomington South earned a corner, that Ryner fired toward goal and Jakob Orth's tall frame helped him get a head on it for a 2-0 advantage.
It was proof the Panthers, who welcomed back forward CJ Santiago from injury, were more comfortable in their surroundings.
"We've been trying to play harder passes through the thicker grass or more direct hit balls," DeGiorgio said. "Our forwards are making big runs across the field which our backline can hit down the line. Those have been working well against teams that aren't very aware of where players are on their back line."
But if the Panthers hit cruise control, they were awakened in the 17th minute when a feed from Talan Carton set up Grant Esper in front of the net. It was the last shot keeper Bryce Taylor would be bothered with.
"Luckily, we have Jakob Orth back there," DeGiorgio said. "Hell of a player. He doesn't really let anything past him."
Bloomington North shut out
Center Grove actually did Bloomington South one better, taking less than three minutes to claim its 2-0 lead.
The stunned Cougars, who were tied 2-2 with the Trojans after 74 minutes in their regular season just last week before giving up two late goals, played hard all 80 minutes, but never recovered.
"Their attacking players are tough," North coach Gonzalo Sanchez said. "They're fast, they're strong, they were hungry tonight. Couple times, we were timid, especially through the mid-field and the back and it cost us."
The first goal came 1:51 in off a corner kick that Caden York, right arm in a cast, leaped and headed into the net. Not even a minute later, a foul in the box led to a penalty kick and Ely Detty buried it en route to a hat trick.
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"We knew they were a threat with corners and (York) was their main guy," Sanchez said. "It was tough getting scored on the same way. He's just a tough player. He's big, he's got hops, he wins balls in the air. We did as much as we could. We doubled him, it's tough."
Detty's second goal came off a North free kick that was reversed in quick fashion, with the long pass setting up the junior for a breakaway with 29:12 still left in the opening half. It stayed 3-0 by halftime and North did not get a single shot off in the final 40 minutes.
"Go down 2-0, now we're scrambling," Sanchez said. "Obviously, we had tons of time since it was early in the game, but at that point, we're just scrambling. It's kind of happened throughout the season. It's not ideal, not what we wanted, but it's not something we were not used to.
"It was just matter of being able to put one in the back of the net for us and keep going after that."
No answer was coming
But Center Grove's defense kept that from ever having chance to happen. The Cougars got three shots off in the first half and no more.
"I think it was mainly losing the ball right after we won the ball," Sanchez said. "Or booting it up and not having some type of idea of how do we counter, like we've been talking about.
"You win the ball in your defensive half, you just want to get it out. But sometimes, you've got to stay composed and find better options so we can build the attack. Otherwise, you just go back on defense again."
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Sanchez ended his first season at North by letting his nine seniors finish out the night. There will be some turnover heading into next year, building upon the improvements this team made over the course of 17 matches.
"I think we're able to play and compete against good teams," Sanchez said. "(Our opponents) see it, the parents see it, the players see it. It's a whole different game and it's a matter of putting the pieces together and convert from there."
Contact Jim Gordillo at jgordillo@heraldt.com and follow on Twitter @JimGordillo.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Hot starts set up boys' soccer sectional finals at Martinsville
