This successful penalty kick by Tristan Young with 11:39 left in the game was the final goal in a 3-0 North Adams win at Eastern Brown. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
Looking like a basketball player boxing out on a rebound, North Adams’ Colin Tolle (10) battles with an Eastern opponent as the Devils claimed a 3-0 win on September 10. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
In a very tight race in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference boys soccer standings, the undefeated Eastern Warriors played host to the North Adams Green Devils on September 10, looking to hand the Devils a second league loss and essentially eliminate them from the race. But the Devils had different plans. Traveling into enemy territory, the Devils controlled the game for most of the way and instead handed the Warriors their first loss of the season, finishing off the home team by a final count of 3-0.
The win by North Adams kept the boys soccer standings in a logjam with Fayetteville still on top, unbeaten in SHAC play, while North Adams, Eastern Brown and Lynchburg-Clay lurking right behind with just one conference loss each, with North Adams and Lynchburg matching up on October 3. First-place Fayetteville still has games left with both Eastern Brown and Lynchburg so things could get quite interesting before the regular season closes.
In last Wednesday’s match up, the Devils got on the board first with 29:34 left in the first half. A corner kick fell into a cluster in front of the net and eventually glanced off the back of an Eastern defender and into the goal for the “own goal” which was credited to North Adams’ Beau Hesler.
Devils’ goalkeeper Thaddeus Moore kept the lead safe with a number of acrobatic saves, aided by some sparkling work from teammate Dalton Pence, in a game where the Warriors dominated the shot totals (19-9), and his team gave him more cushion at the 5:33 mark of the first half. Dylan Mullenix sent a crossing pass to the foot of Tristan Young, who with some fancy footwork, was able to spin and get the shot past Eastern keeper Chase Pinkerton for the 2-0 advantage.
In the second half, the game got more intense and physical but Moore and his defense continually thwarted any Eastern scoring attempts, keeping the clean sheet intact. The final nail in the home team’s coffin came with 11:39 to play when the home team was whistled for a handball infraction in the box, giving the Devils’ a penalty kick opportunity. Young took advantage and rocketed the ball past Pinkerton to give the visitors a 3-0 lead, which is what the scoreboard read at the final whistle.
“This was a big win for us,” said North Adams head coach Kirk Bunn. “We were fairly confident that we could handle them but they’re a really good team but today we were a little better. We’ve gotten better at controlling the ball and the tempo and it is really difficult to beat our back line and with the sun in his eyes our goalie played a great game and got the shutout for us.”
Both teams came back later int he week to grab another conference win, the Warriors downing Whiteoak 5-1 while North Adams trounced Ripley 12-0. with an overall record of 9-1-0, the Devils faced a tough non-conference test on Tuesday, September 16 with a trip to Unioto and on Saturday will make another non-conference trip to Albany Alexander.
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