FIRST-HALF GOALS COSTLY IN WAVERLY LOSS TO SVEC
By: Tim Taylor | WaverlyAthletics.com | April 6, 2021 | Photo courtesy Tim Taylor
CANDOR — SVEC took advantage of early and late first-half goals, as well
as a large advantage in possession, to defeat Waverly, 2-0, in IAC
South Large School boys soccer action here Tuesday.
"I don't know what happened," Waverly coach Eric Ryck said. "I feel like
we're a way better soccer team than what showed up tonight. I don't
know if it's just we're on vacation and it's Easter break or what's
going on. They worked hard and I'm proud of the work effort they have.
We just had a tough time syncing any passes together, linking any sort
of attack together."
The Eagles' Hunter Bates found himself one-on-one against goalkeeper
Cameron McIsaac following a through ball from Jacob Banks less than five
minutes into the game to spot the home team a 1-0 lead.
"They had us on our heels," coach Ryck said. "We gave up that early goal
and it just kind of took the wind out of ourselves, unfortunately, a
little bit and we kind of went into panic mode I think, and we were just
trying to fight to get back."
"It helps to score early," SVEC coach Gary Holmes said. "We thought we'd
get a lot more, but getting a 2-0 win is definitely a step in a
positive direction. Any win is a positive."
Banks would tack on an insurance goal with 26 seconds left in the period on a pass Darren Starkweather.
"That's huge," coach Holmes said. "Getting a cushion of two is a big
deal. The other team has to press much harder, which opens things up for
you a little bit better. We just weren't quite able to capitalize on
it."
Banks nearly put one away earlier in the first half, but hit the right post on a direct kick with just over 15 minutes left.
The ball spent the majority of its time in the Waverly end of the pitch
although the Wolverines Nate Ryck almost erased the goose egg with a
little over two minutes remaining in the second half.
"We've been doing that recently a lot," coach Holmes said. "We're really
good at just possessing the ball. We still need to work on making the
ball go beneficially forward. We're struggling with getting the ball
going forward through the center. We're settling with letting the ball
go wide and holding onto the ball. So, I guess we like to possess it,
but we've got to be much more efficient scoring."
Following a goal kick by McIsaac, Ryck dribbled down the left sideline
past a SVEC defender. He positioned himself inside the 18 and pushed one
across the grass only to have Aidan Swayze make the save.
SVEC was denied several scoring opportunities — some of the Eagles' own
doing, while others were due to solid play by McIsaac in front of the
net.
During an 8-minute span of the second half, the Eagles would miss their target on four attempts.
McIsaac was key to keeping the Wolverines in the game in the second
half. He made three leaping saves then, with 16:06 on the clock, made an
impressive diving save.
Waverly defender Landon McCarty cleared one away in the 37th minute of
the half and SVEC missed one more shot in the 38th minute.
"I think we did well defending, not allowing another goal in the second
half, but it would have been nice to get a little more offensive
attack," coach Ryck said. "We were just having trouble linking it
together. We were trying to dribble too much or something, and just not
staying organized going forward."
SVEC took 14 shots-on-goal to Waverly's three and held an 11-0 advantage in corner kicks.
The Wolverines committed 14 fouls to SVEC's two.
"The calls, back-and-forth ... we were just not getting any calls. I
hate to blame it on that, but it just was killing our momentum," coach
Ryck said.
"It is what it is," he noted.
"It's part of the game and most teams have to deal with it, but when
it's one-sided like that, it can really determine the outcome of the
game and it can frustrate the kids more than they need to be, and it
takes their minds out of the game. That's the hand we were dealt and we
did the best we could with what we had."
On Thursday, SVEC (5-1) hosts Notre Dame and Waverly (2-2) hosts Newark Valley.
