Sweet Home 3,
Pleasant Hill 1
Egan Shamek rapidly fired off three goal shots Sept. 2 at home to lead the boys varsity soccer team to a 3-1 win against Pleasant Hill.
The Huskies started out playing well, but that didn’t last.
“They were playing a great game,” said Coach Eric Stutzer. “They had a lot of offensive push.”
They dominated the offensive end of the field 70 to 80 percent of the time.
Then Pleasant Hill knocked in a penalty kick to take a 1-0 lead about 20 minutes into the game.
“I was really disappointed,” Stutzer said. It knocked the wind out of the Huskies. “They played really flat till halftime.”
That said, the Huskies still outshot Pleasant Hill 15-2 on the first half, Stutzer said.
During halftime, Stutzer and his team talked about the team’s junior varsity year where they regularly came back to win game after game.
“Egan Shamek caught fire,” Stutzer said. “He scored three goals in 10 minutes.”
He scored once on a header from Ramon Fry then twice more with assists from Nick Rodgers and Alonso Perez.
The Huskies offense had been overplaying the ball during the first half, Stutzer said. They were too far in, and they had to control their offense better.
“Instead of waiting for the openings, they were trying to force it,” Stutzer said. When they figured that out, they ended up spreading out the defense and leaving themselves better shots.
“That first part of the second is the best I’ve ever seen Sweet Home soccer look,” Stutzer said, their sound tactics producing quick results. “They looked like a real quality team in the second half.”
Patric Dishaw handled keeper duties and had a couple of good saves, Stutzer said. Pleasant Hill launched about five quality shots on goal, while the Huskies had at least 21 before Stutzer stopped counting.
T.J. Baham handled defense in the center, while Matt Davis went to the outside with Tadyn Bentley and played great games, Stutzer said. Ty Schilling was everywhere in a hybrid mid-defense position.
Brenner Roberts played well too, Stutzer said, creating offense out of the midfield.
“I think it was a pivotal game for the season,” Stutzer said, though he sees areas where the team can still improve. “I think we needed to take home a win to set the tone for this season. It gives them the confidence to know they can win. Had we played that way against Creswell (opening game) we would’ve beat them.”
The Huskies travel to Taft on Thursday and host Newport on Tuesday.
The junior varsity faced the East Linn Christian varsity squad and lost 6-0. The Huskies held East Linn to no goals in the second half.