MARSHFIELD – It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. This game was truly a tale of two halves. The worst of times came first. In the game’s first minute, a flip throw-in by Matt Magana to Bradley Stillwagon, who headed it to Jacob Hampton, who redirected it into the goal gave Bolivar a quick 1-0 lead. With 36:32 left in the half, the Jays tried to answer back with a shot by Robert Martin that just missed. In the 12th minute, a corner kick by Matt Magana to Josh Condren doubled the Liberators’ score. The Jays again tried to answer back with a great cross by Ryan Doolittle to Robert Martin, but alas the header was saved by Bolivar goalie Jordan Stanton. In the 17th minute, Bradley Stillwagon smashed the ball to the left corner, which the Jays goalie read perfectly. However, the ball struck a Marshfield defender and ended up going into the opposite corner: 3-0 Bolivar. Less than a minute later, the Jays suffered an own goal that made it a 4 goal deficit. During the next 16 minutes, the Jays offense really stepped up their attack. At the midway point of the half, Robert Martin had a rocket shot that was about a foot high. Two minutes later, Robert Martin crossed a ball to Ryan Doolittle whose header was saved. In the 27th minute, DJ Hensley had a great shot that hit the outside of the net. In the next 6 minutes, several Jays opportunities looked promising: A breakaway by Ryan Doolittle, a upper 90 shot by Colton Harden, a chance by Robert Martin, a shot by DJ Hensley all found the goalie or empty space. So close, and yet so far… Finally, as Robert Martin had a nice ball on the left side of the box, he was tripped for a penalty kick. Colton Harden took the kick and found the back of the net with 6:08 left in the half to cut the lead to 1-4. With less than two minutes to go in the first half, Tinash Zungura passed to Matt Magana, who got a shot past the defense to finish off the half at 5-1 in favor of the Liberators.
As promised, the second half delivered the best of times, relatively speaking. The Jays played the Liberators straight up for the last 40 minutes of the game. The half had plenty of crisp passing, great defensive clears, fantastic saves, and wonderful offensive opportunities. With 31:07 left in the game, a breakaway by all-stater Matt Magana appeared to be a sure goal, but Keeper Nic Yonter timed it perfectly as he redirected the ball back to the hands of steel for a great save. With 27:05 left in the game, Trent Burks narrowly missed a follow through opportunity. Trent had a rather impressive game as he seemed to be around the ball rather frequently. In the 55th minute, a defensive hiccup allowed a goal by Matt Magana and a 6-1 Bolivar lead. The Jays really turned it on at this point. Several shots by Colton Harden and Robert Martin found the goalie or just bounced the wrong way. Then as the clock was showing 6:59, DJ Hensley took a pass from Robert Martin and dribbled through several defenders and smashed the ball into the back of the net to close the gap to 6-2. Congrats on your first goal of the season, DJ! As DJ Hensley continued his attacks for the rest of the game, the ball just did not cooperate. There was no more scoring in the game, but the second half actually ended 1-1., which is quite impressive against a team that is now 14-1 on the season. Keeper Nic Yonter ended the game with 16 saves.
Our record is now 6-8. There was a lot to praise in this game. There is a great amount of potential on this team. The passing, especially on offense, really looked good. Great teamwork makes a great team. Our best soccer is just around the corner. We are in the home stretch of the season, so let’s have a great 80 against Cassville on Monday, October 12th at 4:30 p.m. in CASSVILLE.
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