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.