Solid home win

The weather was perfect, and the Patriots nearly so in their 4-1 victory this afternoon against the Victory Christian Academy Lions of Valparaiso. The team went down to defeat against the Lions in last year's opener, 6-4 in the only previous meeting between these two teams, so this was HSRC's first victory against Victory.

I got there just in time to witness the first goal. The Patriots were pressuring the VCA defense, making some nice passes but were not able to get a decent shot off. Finally Noel found Sam free just to the left of the goal and he punched one in to the left of the goalie. Not literally punched, of course. Kicked it, actually. Anyway, the Patriots continued their solid, unselfish play. The players without the ball were finding open space and those with it hit them with nice passes. The defense played their positions, and usually when the ball did get down to our end, Caleb ended up getting it and booming it out of the zone. Five minutes after Sam scored, Noel crushed a shot from outside the penalty area, probably twenty yards out, and the goalie had no chance. 2-0, Patriots.

Victory was very active, but we matched their hustle throughout the first half. They also had some skilled dribblers. The two differences I noted were that they really didn't have any finishers, no forwards with a hard and accurate kick. The other was Mark outplayed their goalie by a significant margin. Toward the end half Noel missed on a shot, then a couple of minutes later Quinn got one off that was saved. The Patriots kept coming, and just before half, Noel snuck one in just inside the near post to give the Patriots a 3-0 halftime lead.

In the second, just a few minutes into the half, Henry dribbled past a couple of defenders and shot one past the goalie for a 4-0 lead. That would be all the scoring for the Patriots, as they became noticably tired as the game went on. They weren't quite as disciplined as they were earlier, especially on defense, and the Lions had a few more scoring chances. About ten minutes in, one of their forwards was taken down in the box and was awarded a penalty kick. However, the shot was not very strong and almost directly at Mark, and he made the save. We did have some opportunities in the remaining minutes, but all of our shots went wide or over the net. With about five minutes to go, the biggest player on VCA's team got free and scored, ruining the shutout. It was too little, too late, though and the Patriots got the victory, 4-1.

They are now 2-1 on the season. Tomorrow is another home game, this one against Cornerstone of Chicago Heights. See you there.