Hornets Take Moberly to the Limit

Seniors Steven Maddox and Dan McClure were given quite the send-off as Senior Night proved to be an epic contest between the Fulton Hornets and the visiting Moberly Spartans on Thursday.  Tied in regulation and through two overtimes, the match went to the dreaded PK's, where the Spartans prevailed 6-5 to record the 2-1 victory.

In a hard-fought match, the Fulton defense was put to the test throughout the match, but came up time after time to keep the Hornets in a match.  Senior goalkeeper Dan McClure had the match of his life.  Without his heroics, the match could have easily been a rout in favor of the Spartans.

The Hornets were fortunate to take the lead late in the first half as the goal largely came against the run of play.  Darren Jones in an advanced position played the ball wide to Jakob Hull who crossed the ball to Jake Pierce.  His initial shot was saved, but freshman forward Trevor Neal slid in to put back the loose ball to give the Hornets the 1-0 lead.

From that point onward, it was all blue.  The Fulton offense only generated one good attack in the second half, which left the defense in desperation mode.  In the 72nd minute, the defensive dam broke as Moberly hammered home a loose ball from close in to tie the match.

Unable to settle the match in OT, the teams went to penalty kicks.  Fulton's first shot was saved, but the next four shooters were able to convert from the 12 yard mark.  As the first four Moberly shooters each made their shots, the last Moberly shooter faced tremendous pressure.  When he missed to keep Fulton alive, the shootout went into extra rounds.  Fulton's jubilation proved short-lived.  Moberly's keeper narrowly saved Fulton's next shot and then Moberly scored on its next shot to end the match.

The JV squad ended their season undefeated as their match was a 0-0 tie.

Fulton travels to Mexico and Warrensburg next week.

Hornets Avenge Earlier Loss to Hannibal

The Hornets traveled on Tuesday to Hannibal and came away with a solid 2-0 win against the Pirates.  Second half goals by sophomore Brian McCarthy and senior Dan McClure paced the Hornets to spoil Hannibal's Senior Night.

A full match report will be posted Thursday morning.

Fulton Loses Late to Marshall

On Monday night the Fulton Hornets and Marshall Owls completed their game that was suspended earlier in the season due to weather and field conditions.  The match resumed in the 29th minute of the first half with the Owls leading 1-0.  The Hornets played well in the "first half" on Monday, but really turned it on in the second half.  the Hornets tied the match when Nick Seelinger laid off a nice ball to an onrushing Nick Heimericks, who hit a first-time shot from 30 yards out that had "eyes" for the left post.  The score clearly rattled the Owls and spurred on the Hornets, who really stepped up their game.  Unfortunately, the Hornets would give up two late goals to lose 3-1.

Hornets Lose to Helias

Nick Heimericks came within inches of leveling the match.  Photo:  Ken McCarty

On Saturday the Fulton Hornets hosted the Helias Crusaders for a preview of the District 11 tournament.  Although the Crusaders prevailed thanks to a penalty kick, the Hornets can look forward to meeting the Crusaders again.  With the exception of the penalty kick, there was very little separating the two squads.  Given that all but one of the Crusader starters is a senior, the Hornets can be proud of how well they played as well look with anticipation to next year's series with Helias.

In a physical and contentious match, the Hornets gave as good as they got.  The contest began well for the Hornets as they generated several good chances early, mostly from outside the box.  The best chance in the first half came when Nick Seelinger forced a diving save out of the keeper to earn the corner.  Unfortunately, the promising start was cut short when Helias was awarded a penalty kick midway through the first half.  Well taken into the left corner, the pk gave Helias a 1-0 lead.  The Hornets struggled to find their way back into the match, but continued to battle and finally righted the ship toward the end of the half.

In the second half the Hornets increased their attacks on goal with several good chances.  The best opportunity came late in the match as the Hornets threw everything at the Helias goal to secure the equalizer.  Off a Fulton corner, the ball came to Nick Heimericks on the left side.  His low, curling shot "tinked" off the far post as Helias fans breathed a sigh of relief.

Cruz Gomez (l) and Ben Kucera (r) on the attack in the JV game.

As cruel as Lady Fortune was to the Hornets in the varsity match, she certainly smiled on the Hornets in the JV match.  Although both teams generated good chances, the Crusaders were unfortunate not to take the lead twice:  first, when a Helias player was left onside in the box, but sent his shot wide left and second, when a long distance shot went off the crossbar.  However, it was the Hornets who got on the scoreboard first.  In the 17th minute, Jonathan "JP" Perry sent Cruz Gomez in behind the defense.  The keeper came out well, but Gomez stayed with the play and won the second battle for it.  A quick shot into the empty net put the Hornets up 1-0.  The Hornets had a chance to go up by two, but Daniel Lair's surging run up the right-hand side was narrowly diverted before he could shoot.

The second half belonged mostly to Fulton, but before the match could end, the defense -- especially Nick Heimericks -- had to come up big.  Sam Mayne, Luke Nigus, and Cody Pae were tested several times, but rose to the occasion each time.  The Hornets remain undefeated on the season.

The Hornets return to action on Monday night at 7:00 against Marshall.  This will be the resumption of the match suspended earlier this season.  It will be a varsity-only match.

Hornets Drop Tough One to Kirksville

The Fulton Hornets lost a heart-breaker Thursday night to Kirksville giving up a goal in the 76th minute to lose 1-0.  It was a game that Fulton can rightly feel was snatched from them.  Fulton had two excellent chances to score from close range in the first half, but Jake Pierce and Peter Plakorus were unable to steer their shots past the keeper. The game winner for Kirksville came in the dying moments of the game when a free kick at the edge of the Fulton box was not properly dealt with and Kirksville was able to drive it to the right post past keeper Dan McClure.  Fulton nearly sent the game into overtime when Morgan Milligan drove into the box but his shot -- unfortunately -- was pressured and ended up going right at the keeper.

In the JV game the Hornets continued their winning ways by defeating Kirksville 3-1.  The Hornets went on top 8 minutes into the match when a corner kick from Trevor Neal found its way into the back of the net.  In the second half, Sam Mayne doubled the lead with a somewhat fortunate goal.  With the Hornets high up the field, Mayne attempted to send a cross back into the mixer in front of the goal.  A slight deflection off the leg of a Kirksville player sent the ball goalward and over the outstretched hands of the keeper.  Kirksville was able to cut the lead to one when a surging run on the left side put a Kirksville player alone in the box, where he was able to beat Nick Heimericks on the near post.  However, Fulton's Ben Kucera restored the two goal advantage with 8 minutes remaining with a cracker of a goal when he cut inside and shot from the top of the box.  His shot dipped just under the crossbar to make the score 3-1.  With the win, the JV remain undefeated this season.

Odds and Ends

The cancellation of the Warrensburg game affords the opportunity to take care of a few odds and ends.

First, an update on the high school soccer field.  Director of Maintenance, Tim Echelmeier, has been hard at work renovating the field.  The field has been tilled and soil amendments brought in to restore the soil to health.  In addition, some of the low lying areas were leveled. Today the field was reseeded with a cool-season grass.  An additional layer of sand/soil will be spread tomorrow to lightly cover the seed.  With good weather, we should have germination in a couple of weeks.

Second, greetings to our international readers.  Some of you may be interested to know that we have attracted some interest in Fulton soccer from around the world.  Some of these may simply be individuals who are travelling on business; others may be folks with a Fulton connection.  At any rate, if any of our "foreign" readers would be interested in sharing their connection to Fulton soccer (or how they found us), I'm sure that their comments would be well received.  Here are some of the countries where the blog's readers can be found:

Pageviews by Countries United States 677 Netherlands 38 Philippines 19 Germany 17 Canada 8 Austria 1 Iran 1 Lebanon 1 Thanks to all our readers, regardless of where you are from.

Fulton Loses to Marshall; JV Wins Again

The game in a nutshell:  Marshall rises high above Fulton.

It was a tough outing for the Fulton Hornets as they went on the road to Marshall.  Marshall, which has only lost one game this season (to Columbia Rock Bridge), showed their quality early.  In the second minute, Marshall scored on a blast from Jon Najera.  The shot from well outside the box took an unfortunate deflection off Morgan Milligan and went just inside the left post to give the Owls a 1-0 lead.  The Hornets nearly equalized moments later when Peter Plakorus put Zach Thomas in alone on a charging keeper, but Thomas was unable to keep his shot on target. Marshall then doubled their lead in the 10th minute when Erik Moreno slalomed through the defense for a point blank shot.  There was nothing that Dan McClure could do to prevent the goal.  In response, Fulton mustered a few shots but nothing to really trouble the Owl's keeper.  Najera scored his second goal in the 29th minute when the Fulton defense did their best imitation of Greg Louganis.  As they dove in, Najera used their momentum against them and cut through the heart of the defense for an easy score for the 3-0 lead.  Demonstrating that defense is a collective responsibility, Fulton's defense woes continued when the midfield failed to track a Marshall defender into the box. When the danger was recognized, it was too late as Ebert Alvarez rose to meet a cross from the left and easily headed it in to hand the Hornets a 4-0 half-time deficit.

Fulton showed a little better in the second half, but it must be said that that was partly due to the Owls taking their foot of the gas.  Chad Davis and Darren Jones each got off solid efforts from distance that resulted in corner kicks.  The defense stepped up its efforts as well to put immediate pressure on the Marshall attackers, which paid dividends as the dangerous chances for Marshall largely dried up.  Fulton was able to secure a late consolation goal when Jake Pierce struck a freekick from just outside the box.  His shot sailed past the keeper to the upper right corner to make the final score 4-1.

It was a completely different story in the junior varsity as the Hornets won 1-0.  The Hornets came out prepared to play from the opening whistle.  The dual-rostered players proved a calming influence as Fulton dominated possession in the attacking third.  Ben Kucera and Jakob Hull paired up nicely in the midfield and along with the defense (Sam Mayne, Luke Nigus, Daniel Lair, and Cody Pae) were able to launch numerous attacks on the Marshall goal. Unfortunately, the Hornets faced a very good keeper in Isaac Phillips, who stopped shot after shot.  In the second half, the Hornets continued to press for the win.  Sam Mayne came up from his defensive position to crack a hard shot off the crossbar and moments later, Jakob Hull tagged a shot upper 90 but was foiled by the keeper.  The breakthrough came with just five minutes to play when Sam Mayne sent in a hard low cross from the right.  Scott Strough ran onto it and kept his shot low to finish past the keeper to give the Hornets the victory.  With the win, the Fulton JV remain undefeated this season.

The Hornets play next on Monday in Warrensburg.

Hornets Dominate Boonville, 6-0

Where are the Pirates?  Sam Mayne heads clear as (from left to right) Morgan Milligan, Nick Seelinger, and Steven Maddox look on.

Darren Jones attacks the Boonville goal as two defenders attempt to assist their keeper.

Fresh off their Camdenton Tournament championship, the Fulton Hornets traveled to Boonville on Tuesday and turned in a dominating performance against the Pirates.  While Boonville was able to limit the damage in the first half, only surrendering one goal, the Hornets peppered their opponent's goal throughout the game and exploded for five goals after the break.

The Hornets got off to a good start, scoring off a free kick in the 7th minute when Jake Pierce hammered a low shot from the edge of the box.  While the Hornets would not score again in the half, it was not for want of commitment to the attack.  The Hornets got off 14 shots in the half with nine different players recording shots.  

The second half was again one-way traffic in the direction of the Boonville goal.  Pierce scored twice more to record the hat-trick and Zach Thomas picked up two goals to lead the Hornets' offensive explosion.  In the 48th minute, Pierce dribbled to his right across the box and fired a low shot back to the far post.  Pierce then turned provider in the 54th minute when he sent a curling cross to Peter Plakorus who was alone on the doorstep for the easy tap-in to make 3-0,

With the Pirates' sails flagging, the Hornets went for the kill.  Two goals in two minutes signaled the Hornets cut-throat mentality.  Pierce completed the hat-trick when he pounced on a poor clearance at the top of the box.  His shot squirmed under the diving keeper to make the score 4-0.  A minute later Darren Jones played Zach Thomas through for a short-range shot to make the score 5-0.   Thomas added a second goal moments from time when he headed down a cross from Plakorus.  Following in, he sent the ball to the far post to finish out the scoring.

The defense performed ably and limited the Pirates to only a handful of half chances to help earn keeper Dan McClure the shutout.

In the junior varsity game, the Hornets showed some rustiness after not having played in several weeks.  The best chance of the first half belonged to the Pirates when a defensive miscommunication put a Boonville player in alone on the keeper.  Nick Heimericks did well to stand his ground and was able to tip the point-blank shot  over the bar for the corner.  In the second half, Fulton generated a number of good chances, the best coming off a Cruz Gomez shot that he scuffed wide of the post.  The game ended in a scoreless tie, keeping the Hornets unbeaten streak alive.

Fulton returns to action on Thursday night when they travel to take on Marshall.  Marshall has only lost once this season, a 0-6 loss to Rock Bridge.

Three Hornets Named to All Tournament Team

Congratulations to senior Dan McClure and juniors Jake Pierce and Morgan Milligan for being named to the Camdenton Laker Shootout All-Tournament Team.  McClure recorded the shutout against West Plains and scored against Lebanon, but really came up big against Camdenton with several fine saves as well as the game winning PK in the shootout.  Jake Pierce score once against West Plains, but saved his best game for Camdenton.  In that game, he scored twice in regulation, the first off a freekick and the second from the penalty spot.  He also scored a PK in the shootout.  As he has all season, Morgan Milligan anchored the defense and scored a glorious long-distance goal in the match against Lebanon.  He, too, scored his PK in the shootout against Camdenton.

The rest of the tournament team is as follows:

Colton Hensley, West Plains
Nick Huey, Camdenton
Gabe Kenemer, Lebanon
Dan McClure, Fulton
Murray McFarlane, Hannibal
Elliot Meyer, Hannibal
Morgan Milligan, Fulton
Jake Pierce, Fulton
Vincent Sabourin, Osage
Jeron Sinclair, Camdenton

Camdenton Tournament Champs!!!

2010 Camdenton Laker Shootout Champs

The Fulton Hornets are the 2010 Camdenton Laker Shootout champions.  Coming off a 2-0 victory over West Plains on Friday night, the Hornets took on the Camdenton Lakers and the Lebanon Yellowjackets on Saturday. In a thrilling match that saw two overtimes, the Hornets defeated the Camdenton Lakers 6-5 in penalty kicks.  In their final match, Fulton defeated Lebanon 4-0 to secure the tournament championship.

In what proved to be the tournament championship game, Fulton took on a very good Camdenton Laker squad in an epic back and forth match.  From the opening whistle, Fulton came out full of energy.  Quick passing combinations and a "first to the ball" mentality from Fulton kept the Lakers on the defensive.  Fulton's reward came in the 32nd minute when Peter Plakorus carried deep into the Camdenton penalty box.  Just before the endline, he was able to chip the keeper to provide a wide open Zach Thomas with a simple header on the back post.  Fulton's lead proved to be short-lived as four minutes later, Camdenton capitalized on a header from a free-kick to tie the game.

In the second half Camdenton had the wind to their backs and a renewed energy to their play.  A quarter of an hour into the half Camdenton took the lead off a deep run and cross to the back post.  Fulton responded well.  Minutes later Thomas was taken down just outside of the penalty box in the 62nd minute.  Jake Pierce lined up the free-kick and struck a low, hard shot around the wall into the left side of the goal to tie the match at two goals apiece with just 18 minutes remaining.  Camdenton seized the lead again just moments later when Fulton failed to deal with a loose ball in the box.  The Hornets continue to battle and were rewarded with just 7 minutes remaining when a Laker handled the ball in the box.  Pierce took the resulting penalty and powered a hard shot high into the net to knot the match (and everyone's stomachs) at 3-3.

After two sudden-death overtimes that saw few chances for either team, it came down to the dreaded penalty kicks.  With memories of Fulton's penalty kick loss to Hannibal fresh in the fan's minds, there was a fair amount of trepidation among the Fulton fans going into the shootout.  Both teams performed well from the spot, with Fulton having the slightest of advantages, namely stellar keeping from Nick Heimericks.  After getting a hand on the first Camdenton shot, he served notice that their shots had to be well taken.  This would prove decisive.  After five rounds, the score was tied 4-4 (one Fulton shot was saved, while a Camdenton player missed altogether).  The next two shooters both made their shots to keep the shootout level at 5-5.  Dan McClure then scored in the next round putting all the pressure on Camdenton.  When the next Camdenton player missed his shot, the Fulton team erupted in joyous celebration.

In the second match of the day, Fulton took on the winless Lebanon Yellowjackets.  In a match best described as a "hangover game," the Hornets turned in a listless performance.  They did take an early lead with a Sam Mayne goal in the 3rd minute.  Coming up from his position in central defense, Mayne was able to latch onto a corner from Chad Davis and drive home his shot from close range.  Fulton doubled their lead with 10 minutes left in the half when Darren Jones played a ball down the left flank to McClure.  McClure drove to goal and was just able to poke the ball past the onrushing keeper.  Despite the lead, the Hornets showed little quality.  Poor passing and poor effort across the field made the first half a tough one on the eyes.

Fulton showed a little better in the second half.  Despite tired legs, the Hornets increased their collective work rate and passed the ball slightly better than in the first.  As in the first half, they continued to pepper the Lebanon goal, but the expected onslaught failed to materialize.  Finally, in the 64th minute, Fulton scored again, when Jones centered a ball from the left and Thomas tapped in from close range.  Fulton closed out the scoring in the 69th minute with arguably the prettiest goal of the tournament.  Morgan Milligan played a free kick to Jones.  Jones took the space given to him by Lebanon pn the left and then dropped the ball back to the advancing Milligan.  Milligan struck a first time shot from 35 yards out that went left upper 90 past the outstretched arms of the keeper.

With the tournament championship, Fulton claimed its first tournament title since the 2005 Lebanon tournament.  Fulton returns to action on Tuesday when they travel to play their "home match" against Boonville in Boonville.

Fulton Opens Camdenton Tournament with Win

The Fulton Hornets avenged their earlier loss to the West Plain Zizzers by defeating them 2-0 to open the Camdenton tournament tonight.  Goals by Peter Plakorus and Jake Pierce were enough to secure the win.

The first half was all Fulton as the Zizzers struggled to get a hold of the ball.  Superb passing and energetic running kept Fulton on the front foot for most of the half.  The payoff came late in the half off a set play.  Pierce rose to meet the cross and headed on goal, which Plakorus then redirected past the keeper.  The second half saw slightly less of an advantage for Fulton, but the Hornets were able to double their lead just 4 minutes into the half.  Pierce was able to cut across the box in front of the Zizzer defense and drive a low shot past the keeper.  The Zizzers had an excellent chance midway through the half to cut into the Fulton lead, but sent their point blank shot over the crossbar.

Fulton plays a senior-laden Camdenton squad tomorrow morning at 11:00.