Fulton Midfielder Darren Jones came up big on Tuesday with the game winner against Boonville.
The Fulton Hornets went on the road for the first time this season on Tuesday and brought home two well-earned victories against the Boonville Pirates. The JV cruised to a 7-0 victory to remain undefeated, while the varsity squad fought off a tough first-half challenge from the Boonville Pirates to earn a 4-1 win to also keep a perfect record.
It was a tale of two halves for the varsity match. Despite Fulton having the majority of possession for the opening minutes of the game, it was the Pirates who struck first. A well-organized and motivated Boonville squad caught the Hornets napping and struck early for a 1-0 lead in the 8th minute. A looping shot from outside the box caught keeper Dan McClure just slightly off his line and squeezed under the crossbar. Their confidence shaken, the Fulton players struggled to maintain both their composure and possession of the ball. Fulton was fortunate not to go down by 2 goals when Boonville struck a shot off the crossbar midway through the half.
As it became clear that Boonville was not simply going to hand over a victory, the Fulton players slowly responded to the challenge. As the quality of the Fulton squad began to show, the Hornets began to mount more serious challenges on the Boonville goal. The speculative efforts from distance gave way to more dangerous opportunities in the box. In the 30th minute the effort paid off. A Boonville foul on the right side of the box resulted in a Fulton freekick. Midfielder Jake Pierce floated a cross into the six-yard box. The keeper fanned it and the ball bounced to Fulton defender Nick Heimericks, who from an acute angle was able to head the ball across the line to level the score at 1-1.
A more confident Fulton team emerged for the second half and played energetic soccer to take control of the match. With the defense and midfield clamping off supply to the Pirate attackers, the game was played on the Hornets' terms. The breakthrough came in the 51st minute when Sam Mayne -- pressed into service as a forward -- used his ball winning skills to head a 50-50 ball into space on the left side. Junior Darren Jones took the opportunity as he dashed onto the ball and chipped past the onrushing keeper. The celebration had scarcely ended when the Hornets scored again in the 54th minute. Forward Zach Thomas cleverly laid off a cross from Jakob Hull to feed Pierce who hammered the ball past the keeper from 11 yards out. Pierce added to his tally a minute later with a leaping header that redirected a free kick from Heimericks into goal. The keeper made an effort to clear the danger but got caught in no-man's land with the service perfectly placed between the Boonville backline and the goal.
As expected, the explosion of goals (three in four minutes) put a damper on the spirits of the hosts, but there was still work to be done to finish out the game. Fulton keeper McClure was called upon to make a key save with 10 minutes remaining to preserve the three goal cushion. While the goal scorers and assistmen receive their just accolades, much credit for the victory goes to the excellent play from sophomores Brian McCarty and Ben Kucera, who along with freshman Trevor Neal, harrassed their Boonville opponents throughout the game with their tireless work-rate and solid passing.
In the junior varsity match, the Hornets quickly put their stamp on the match. Several near misses by the Fulton attack gave an early indication of what was to come. In the 5th minute freshman Aaron Arms put forward Chancellor Ameyaw in on goal. Ameyaw dribbled and fired from close range to give the Hornets the 1-0 lead. Their appetites whetted, the Fulton players created chance after chance on goal.
It was senior keeper Dan McClure -- playing on the field for the first time this season -- who took greatest advantage of the opportunities. Using his lethal left foot, McClure scored the hat-trick with a goal in the 9th minute and two goals in the second half. The first came off a nice through ball from freshman midfielder Jonathan Perry that McClure rifled into the lower right corner of the goal from 16 yards out. In the second half McClure added two more in the span of 30 seconds. The first came in the 30th minute when Ameyaw found McClure making a slashing run into the box. A quick touch to settle left McClure with an easy pass into goal. No sooner had play resumed then McClure again found himself alone with the keeper. From the left touchline Hull found a seam in the Boonville defense. The pass split three Boonville defenders and McClure made no mistake on the finish as he shot low and hard to the left-hand side.
The Hornets' offense also received contributions from:
- Jones, who curled a left-footed freekick around the wall in the 11th minute to beat the keeper;
- Steven Maddox, whose shot in the 24th minutes produced a soft goal. The shot had pace, but was straight at the keeper. Unfortunately for him, a hand was not enough to stop the shot as it rolled agonizingly over the goal line; and,
- Thomas, who rounded off the scoring, thanks to a stellar pass from Kucera, which allowed Thomas to walk in for the easy finish to the right-hand corner.
Although rarely tested throughout the match, the Fulton defenders earned their third shut-out. The junior varsity now have an impressive plus 21 goal differential.
The Fulton squads resume action on Thursday night when they host conference foe Marshall @ 5:30.
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