Your source for all the news about the Fulton High School boys soccer team.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
We talk a lot about the importance of forming triangles on the field in order to support our teammate with the ball. No team does it better than Barcelona. This video is a great illustration of how triangles are formed by the intelligent movement of players and how those triangles are key to unlocking a defense. You will also notice that more often than not, two triangles are created to form a diamond. Enjoy watching.
The Fulton Hornets traveled to Boonville and came back with a pair of wins.
In the JV match, Ricky Dawson scored on a breakaway to level the match at 1-1. In the second half Daniel Lair scored the game winner. Jared Strough picked up the victory in goal.
In the varsity match Fulton prevailed 3-0 on the strength of three first-half goals. Zach Thomas scored a brace off assists from Ben Kucera and Chad Davis, while Jake Pierce added an unassisted tally. Comfortably ahead, the second half saw wholesale substitutions for the Hornets. At the end of the game, only two starters were left on the field. It was a good situation for the team as it allowed them to rest several players. The substitutes did well as they generated several good scoring chances and kept the clean sheet for Sam Mayne.
The Hornets return to action on Tuesday as they host Mexico for Senior Night. The ceremonies begin at 5:15.
There's no such thing as a boring Fulton-Moberly soccer match and Thursday's night match was no exception. With the teams in the first and second spots in the conference, a victory for Moberly would clinch the conference title, while Fulton was aiming for a share of the conference title. Bringing even more drama to the match, both teams were without key starters. Moberly was missing four starters due to citizenship violations, while Fulton was slightly better off with the loss of Nick Heimericks (injury) and Chad Davis (card accumulation).
Moberly drew first blood on a penalty kick late in the first half. But the Hornets handled it well, putting together a response 3 minutes later. After a battle in the midfield that resulted in a throw-in for Fulton, Jakob Hull was able to pick out a run from Zach Thomas, who calmly slotted the ball past the onrushing keeper, to make it 1-1.
In the second half, the Hornets applied the offensive pressure and generated several excellent chances for the go-ahead goal with Thomas, Ben Kucera, and Hull all with golden opportunities to be the hero. The breakthrough came with in 67th minute when Jake Pierce rose up to head a cross from Thomas. Pierce's looping header beat the keeper to the far post to give the Hornets a deserved 2-1 lead.
The Hornets were seemingly headed to a massive victory and were content to drop players back into the midfield to kill the clock. However, to Moberly's credit, they continued to fight to the final whistle. With 19 seconds (19 freaking seconds!) remaining, Moberly scored off a header to force overtime. After two scoreless overtime periods - in which the Spartans had the better chances - the teams went into the dreaded shootout.
In the shootout, all five of each team's initial shooters made their kicks, which meant that it was a sudden death situation. Moberly's 6th shooter made his, which meant that Brian McCarty had to equalize, which he did with authority, rattling the back post with his shot. In the 7th round, Sam Mayne came up with a massive save when he dove and steered the shot past the left post. Ben Kucera then stepped up for Fulton with the chance to win it. He coolly made his shot to the jubilation of the Hornet players and fans.
The victory moved Fulton to 9-1 in conference. Fulton travels to Boonville on Saturday for a 5:00 match. (JV starts at 5, varsity to follow.)
It was a good night to be a Hornet. Fulton hosted the Hannibal Pirates tonight and came away with a 2-0 victory against a solid Hannibal team. First half goals by Trevor Neal and Jake Pierce were enough to secure the win.
In the JV game, Kevin Wallace scored early in the 2nd half to level the match at 1-1. The game ended with that score.
Check back on Wednesday for a full match report and video highlights.
Fulton traveled down Highway 63 on Saturday and took down the Helias Crusaders, the #8 team in the state in class 2, on Saturday. Two goals by Jake Pierce paced the Hornets to the 2-1 victory in Jefferson City.
The Hornets possessed the ball very well, pinging the ball around the field, which created a number of difficulties for the Crusaders. Zach Thomas nearly put the Hornets up on a nifty header that put the Helias Crusader at full stretch.
The first goal came off a good run from Jakob Hull with a decent mix of good fortune. Hull drove the ball forward before laying off to Jake Pierce. Hull continued his run and was rewarded when the Helias defender cleared the ball right to him. He gratefully collected the ball and made a dangerous run into the box, beating one defender before being knocked down by a second. There was no hesitation from the referee in awarding the pk. Pierce calmly slotted it home to give the Hornets a crucial 1-0 lead.
Pierce would get his second goal off a restart after Trevor Neal was fouled at midfield. Darren Jones sent in a teasing ball that brought the keeper off his line, but before he could punch the ball, Pierce used his height to full effect and redirected the ball into the empty net.
As expected, the Crusaders came out of the halftime break determined to reverse their fortunes. They picked up their energy and put considerably more pressure on the Hornets. Their efforts paid off as an errant pass at midfield allowed the Crusaders to counterattack. While the Hornet defense recovered, Brian McCarty was judged to have fouled the Helias player. The penalty kick reduced the Hornet lead to one and set up a woolly final 30 minutes. Both teams would produced excellent chances to score with Howie Lee nearly scoring off a header as the best chance for Fulton. And, fortunately for Fulton, the Crusaders squandered their chances on the other end. Ultimately, though, it was the Hornet defense led by seniors Morgan Milligan, Darren Jones, and Sam Mayne who stifled the Crusaders' comeback attempt.
In the junior varsity, the Hornets faced off against a slightly older Crusaders team. Even though they lost 2-0, they played very well with good combination play across the field.
It was a good night for Fulton as they traveled to Kirksville on Thursday night. Kirksville was behind the proverbial 8-ball from the outset as they were without the services of their team leader, Jan Fanning, due to a red card in their previous match. (His consolation was that he was carded - his second yellow - for taking off his jersey in celebration of scoring the game-winning goal against Mexico.) On the Fulton side of the ledger, Jake Pierce had a career night with a hat trick with Trevor Neal adding a brace and Zach Thomas adding a sixth to make it a fairly miserable night for the Tigers.
The Hornets opened the scoring early. In the 2nd minute, Pierce took advantage of a loose ball in the Kirksville defense and drove through the box before spinning and firing a low shot past the keeper.
Seven minutes later, Zach Thomas doubled the lead off a corner kick from Chad Davis. A well-taken kick to the back post found Thomas well-defended, but he was able to beat his marker to the ball and head it into goal.
The score would remain 2-0 for a while, but the crisp ball movement would break the scoring open with Fulton scoring three times in a span of five minutes. The first would come in the 28th minute when Jakob Hull put Pierce in alone on the Kirksville defense. Pierce calmly finished past the onrushing keeper.
Forty seconds later, Fulton struck again. Davis was found alone on the right off a restart by Morgan Milligan. A couple of touches and a good ball to the danger area between the 6 and 12 put the Kirksville keeper in a difficult situation. He came out well, but a challenge from Pierce kept him from punching the ball clear. Trevor Neal was the first to react and poked the loose ball into the open net.
Fast forward four minutes and Kirksville was picking the ball out of their net again. This time Milligan put his free kick from midfield to the top of Kirksville penalty. The defender accidently headed it toward his own goal. Pierce reacted quickly and touched it over the charging keeper and tapped it into the empty net for the hat trick.
Trailing 5-0 going into the second half, Kirksville could have crumbled, but did well find its shape defensively, giving up only one goal in the second stanza. The Hornets scored in the 51st minute on a good switch from Davis' right back position. The defender failed to decisively clear the ball and a grateful Neal took full advantage. Neal steamed to goal and megged the hapless keeper.
Fulton would continue to press, but good goal-keeping and the kindly intervention of every keeper's best friend (the woodwork) kept the score at 6-0. On the defensive end, Fulton played very well with Sam Mayne picking up the shutout.
In the junior varsity game, it was a tale of two halves. Kirksville opened up a 2-0 lead before goals by freshman Cody Baumgartner and junior Kelsey Nunley tied it at 2-2. Baumgartner got on the end of a long punt by sophomore keeper Daniel Lair to tap it past the keeper. Nunley used his speed to get around Kirksville's right back and drive to the near post. His right-footed blast surprised the keeper, who was unable to keep it from slipping through his hands and into the goal. Unfortunately, Fulton than gave up a third goal to allow the Tigers to take a 3-2 lead into halftime.
In the second half, the Tigers used their speed to put three more goals on the board. While not the showing one hoped for, the Hornets moved the ball well. In addition, freshman keeper Jerod Strough produced a superb save on a penalty kick.
