By PAUL GOTHAM
Three first-half goals proved to be the difference as the Honeoye Falls-Lima Cougars held off the Eastridge Lancers in Monroe County Division 4 play at Eastridge High School, Monday.
Sophomore Chris Goetz scored in the game’s seventh minute. Parker Hotchkiss tallied 13 minutes later, and David Goetz pushed the advantage to three 26 minutes into the game.
But the Cougars could not get any further separation from Eastridge.
“It was kind of a funny game,” HF-L coach Mike Merrill said. “I felt like we could have scored a lot of goals. But East Irondequoit could have scored some goals too. It was just one of those quiet summer soccer games. It was a weird one. We’re lucky to get the win out of here.”
Garrett Delves caught HF-L off guard with a quick shot on a restart to get Eastridge on the scoreboard heading into halftime.
HF-L controlled the play early in the second stanza but did not put away the game.
“We did get into rhythm a little bit, but obviously we couldn’t put the ball into the net,” Merrill explained. “They weren’t pressing us at all. We had all sorts of time. Maybe that’s part of how they were playing us, sitting back in a little bit. We really didn’t capitalize on it unfortunately.”
Matt Stefaniw took advantage of a scrum in front of the Cougars net to pull Eastridge within one in the game’s 65th minute.
“I was very happy with the second half,” Eastridge coach Mike Friedel stated. “We played well and worked the ball around and did everything we talked about at halftime.
“One of the things with HF-L is guys always get nervous when we’re playing them. That showed in the first half. We did a lot of ball chasing. We weren’t disciplined. Second half we fixed those things and played a very good half.”
A late attack from the Lancers resulted in a direct kick from 35 yards away in the center of the pitch.
HF-L keeper Nico Coria was there to preserve the win.
“Nico is a great shot stopper,” Merrill said of his all-league performer who finished with 14 shutouts last season. “I felt that we were the better team, but when you give away chances like that anything can happen. Fortunately we got one more goal than them. They’re a dangerous team. They got some tough guys up top.”
Hotchkiss finished with a goal and an assist. David Goetz got the helper on the Hotchkiss tally – a corner kick that Hotchkiss redirected with a header into the back of the net.
“I knew David would put it right in the middle near the PK spot,” Hotchkiss explained. “I just made sure I was there first. Looked at my surroundings and went for the goal.”
Gunnar Wetzel added an assist for HF-L.
HF-L improved to 2-0 on the season. The three-time Section V Class A2 champions play at Pittsford-Mendon on Thursday. A 7 p.m. kick off is scheduled at Thornell Farm Park.
Eastridge, which opened the season with a 2-1 win over cross-town rival Irondequoit fell to 1-1. The Lancers play at Mynderse on Wednesday. A 6:30 p.m. start is scheduled.
Leave a Reply