By PAUL GOTHAM
Jordan Freed isn’t a fan of the new piece of protective gear he is required to wear.
After Saturday, the Bishop Kearney senior might consider it as a part of his regular outfit.
Freed netted his first two goals of the season, and Kearney celebrated Homecoming with a 2-1 victory over crosstown rival Eastridge.
On a day when penalty kicks weren’t automatic Freed, with a mask over his head to protect his nose that was broken twice during a recent four-day period, snapped a one-all tie when he converted with 17:53 remaining.
“The game was on my shoulders at that point,” Freed said. “It’s a tie game. I already have to wear a mask. Everyone is already laughing at me, so if I miss a PK I’m going to be laughed at even more.”
He calmly slotted a shot into the side netting along the left side.
“This past Wednesday I had surgery. Got it fixed up, and they told me I have to wear this mask for the next two weeks or so. I can’t stand it, but if it helps me get goals I’m fine with it.”
The win was the third straight for Kearney (6-4-0) and avenged a 7-2 loss to Eastridge earlier in the month.
“I’m just happy that my team came out to work today,” he said. “Everyone put in their best effort. It’s my last homecoming game, and I’m just glad that we could take it against our rival school.”
Freed’s first goal gave BK a 1-nil advantage with 13:53 to go in the first half when the Kings executed their game plan.
“Coming in we wanted to try to take their center back out wide,” Freed said referring to Eastridge junior sweeper, Ja’Dyn Thomas. “We played a two-striker up top. We ran our guy to the corner to pull him out. I ran to the inside, got the ball and just took it my left foot to the far post.”
With Thomas running down a ball along the sideline, Freed got loose behind the Lancers back line.
“He played well,” BK assistant coach Bill McKee said of Freed. “Ja’Dyn is going to be a heckuva sweeper. He’s a big, strong kid. He’ll take charge of that entire area in the back.
“How do we get him out of there? Play balls to the corner. He’ll go and run and get to the ball because that’s his job. If we can get him out of the middle, now can we get an early ball in? We were successful in doing that at least once.”
Jordan Freed converts a penalty kick with 17:53 remaining to give @bk_boys_soccer a 2-1 lead over Eastridge. pic.twitter.com/9QK28aX6cc
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) October 1, 2017
Kearney was also successful in slowing Eastridge’s Matt Stefaniw who entered play leading Monroe County with 16 goals and eight assists. The Kings limited the senior attacker to one tally – a penalty kick in the final minute of the first half.
“We wanted to do two things,” said McKee taking the place of BK head coach Stephen Strauss who was attending an out-of-town wedding. “Number one we wanted to possess as much as possible, so they didn’t have an opportunity to control things. We did a decent job of that. I thought we possessed well. The other thing is we tried to dump as many balls as we could into the corner and take up a little time with the ball in the corner. We trained for that last night.”
The Kings also made a tactical change in their lineup.
“We switched one of our better players and took him out of an attacking midfield spot and dropped him back,” said McKee of BK’s Fernando Furioso. “Fernando just cleans everything up. He’s like a sweeper in front of the back three. That helped us keep Stefaniw quiet. He’s a stud. No question.”
Matt Stefaniw cleans up the rebound on the PK for the equalizer. pic.twitter.com/q6mjpAd94j
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) September 30, 2017
Kearney found some help when Stefaniw was disqualified after receiving his second yellow card with 17:16 to go in the match.
Eastridge had a chance late in the game when Kearney’s Tierney was sent to the bench after being issued a yellow card. Down a player and with their leading scorer on the bench, the Lancers struggled to mount an attack.
Three penalty kicks were stopped in the match. Stefaniw’s goal came on a rebound after Matt Tierney thwarted the original attempt.
Kearney hosts C.G. Finney on Monday.
Eastridge hosts Greece Olympia on Wednesday.
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