By David Paulsen
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
A 4-0 win over Union Grove Tuesday gave the Waterford High School boys soccer team its first win of the season in its first Southern Lakes Conference game.
“We possessed the ball all night more than we have all year,” head coach Rob Blascoe said.
That may have been helped by some personnel moves Blascoe made for the game.
To give one of his athletes who was struggling with asthma an easier assignment, Blascoe moved Bryan Schuyler from the back line to up top and Schuyler responded with a hat trick in the first half.
In addition, Blascoe put Kai Batwinski, who normally played outside back, in the center midfield position.
“Kai and David Zahn controlled the ball,” Blascoe said, adding they were consistently winning the 50-50s, and were connecting with their teammates.
Schuyler got his first goal in the fifth minute of the game off an assist from Batwinski. He scored his second in the 12th minute off an assist from Austin Swigart, and his third goal in the 26th minute off an assist from Ben Pollock.
In the second half, Batwinski got the Wolverines fourth goal unassisted in what Blascoe said was one of the best goals he has seen all year.
“It was a heck of a strike. Best guess is from 25 to 30 yards out from the middle of the field,” Blascoe said.
The win gives Waterford a 1-5 mark overall, and a 1-0 record in the SLC.
The Prairie School
In this game against a quality Prairie team, Blascoe indicated the Wolverines played quite well in a 5-1 loss Aug. 21.
“We played better than the score indicates,” Blascoe said.
Prairie built its lead to 4-0 in the second half, before Waterford got its only goal. In the 60th minute, Zahn, with an assist from Nick Wollmer, made it 4-1.
Racine Case
The Wolverine boys scored first in this game Aug. 23, but ended up on the short end of a 6-1 score.
This time, it was Wollmer who scored with an assist from Zahn off a corner kick.
“We really outplayed them early on, but unlike the Prairie game, we really didn’t do the things we needed to do throughout the game,” Blascoe said.
After taking that 1-0 lead, Case rallied to take a 2-1 lead at the half, and then tacked on four more goals in the second half.
-
-
-
-
-