Perhaps it was the long bus ride. Perhaps it was overconfidence after last year's 6-0 win over Chillicothe. Perhaps it was just opening game jitters. Regardless, it was a rude start to the 2011 campaign when the host Chillicothe Hornets scored less than 2 minutes into the match on Saturday. A long throw-in, a ball allowed to bounce in the box, poor marking in the box and the Fulton Hornets suddenly found themselves staring at a 0-1 deficit.
Somewhat rattled, the Hornets struggled to connect their passes over the first 15 minutes. While this was somewhat due to the uneven quality of the field, much of the credit goes to the swarming style of an athletic Chillicothe squad. Their direct style of play gave the Fulton back line plenty to worry about.
Gradually the Hornets began to show their quality and play themselves into the match. More and more of the possession went Fulton's way. Finally, in the 27th minute Fulton got the equalizer. Junior midfielder Jakob Hull won possession of the ball and sent a through ball to senior forward Morgan Milligan. Cutting in from his position on the right, Milligan drove into the box. His initial shot was saved, but his second effort and that of sophomore forward Trevor Neal put enough pressure on the keeper that he inadvertently put it into his own goal. It was truly a text book example of a goalmouth scramble that fortunately went the Hornets' way.
A few minutes later, the Hornets struck again. A dangerous drive by senior forward Jake Pierce into the left side of the box gave the Chillicothe defenders little option but to foul. It could have been a penalty kick as Pierce went down under the challenge, but the referee judged it to be obstruction. Instead of a pk, the Hornets lined up for an indirect kick in the box. After a quick touch by Chad Davis, Pierce drove a hard shot around the wall to the far post. The defense managed to block the shot, but Neal was able to pounce on the rebound and thunder it home past the hapless keeper.
Buoyed by their 2-1 halftime advantage, Fulton came out quickly in the second half. Scarcely over a minute into the half (@ 41:13), Jones advanced from his wingback position and sent a cross into the box. Once again -- proving the soccer coach's admonition to never, ever let a ball bounce in your box -- the ball bounced right into the path of the onrushing Milligan, who cracked a volley over the keeper's head from ten yards out.
That rounded out the scoring, although not the action. While both teams created chances, Fulton had the match firmly in hand as their quality on the ball began to show -- finally.
While most of the Fulton squad consisted of returning players (10) from last season, several players were able to make their varsity debuts: senior defender Zach Hegemann, junior defender Cody Pae, junior midfielder Howie Lee, and freshman Kevin Wallace acquited themselves well.
In the junior varsity game, it was a similar opponent for the young Fulton players as they found themselves matched up against many of the Chillicothe players from the varsity match. The Hornets played well, dominating the game until the insertion of the varsity players midway through the first half turned the tide in Chillicothe's favor. A break away left sophomore goalkeeper Daniel Lair in a 2 v 1 and the hosts took a 1-0 lead. Fulton nearly equalized on a break away of its own, but Kevin Wallace's well-placed shot was saved by the keeper.
Chillicothe doubled its lead early in the second half when a powerfully taken freekick sailed over the wall and just underneath the bar, leaving Lair with little chance to stop it. The final score was 2-0 in favor of Chillicothe, but Fulton showed promise of what is to come with more experience. Every player had positive moments and with a little tweaking, the Fulton j.v. should have a fine season.
