×

Southwestern takes down Fredonia, 6-0

Trojans run wild

OBSERVER Photo by Ron Szot Above, Fredonia’s Liam Jones goes to make a play on the ball during Monday’s boys soccer match against Southwestern at Fredonia State.

Under the lights at SUNY Fredonia on Monday night, the Southwestern Trojans brought their best to the Fredonia Hillbillies, running up a 6-0 score. Southwestern used two early-half flurries to their advantage, making all their goals early and often.

“The first part of the first half was our best play of the season so far, then that first few minutes of the second half was exactly how we needed to come out,” Southwestern coach Jason Deering said.

And get off to a rampant start they did, scoring two goals in the first ten minutes of the half, notably setting the tone for the rest of the game.

Fredonia did bring it in the latter part of the first half, bringing significant pressure and dominating possession for the last 20 minutes of the half, including a shot off the crossbar around the 25th minute.

“Against a team like them, you can’t start slow. Once we settled in, we were fine. We’re learning and getting better each game,” said Fredonia coach Jim Rush.

The second half featured similar results to the first half, as Southwestern added a flurry of goals in the first seven minutes, putting up three tallies in the first six minutes of the second half, with the third goal coming in just the second minute, and the fourth goal coming on a penalty kick from Marcus Kautzman. Those goals were the back breakers for Fredonia.

“Two goal leads are the most dangerous leads in soccer, we needed to put at least a goal on. They did more than that. It was fantastic to watch,” Deering said.

The other Southwestern (2-3) goals came Simon Pirrello, who had two, Max Vaughn, McKay Young, and Michael Carnes, as the scoring distribution came pretty evenly for the Trojans. Declan Brown turned away every shot he faced in net, including a couple nice saves in the latter part of the first half. Deering knows that his team is starting to find their way.

“We’re not quite there, but it’s starting to come together. It’s fun soccer,” Deering said.

Southwestern will next move on to play Olean on Friday night, and Deering knows that game, just like any other, won’t be easy.

“Olean is always tough. Fredonia is too. You have to show up in our league. We have to be prepared,” Deering said.

Meanwhile, on the Fredonia side, there are some positive notes to take away, like their play in the second half. Rush knows that every game has a learning experience, but he won’t dwell on the past.

“I won’t stand there and talk about the game to my guys. They were there. They know what happened, and it just happens sometimes,” Rush said.

Rush and the Billies (0-3-1) have a quick turn around, as they’ll take on the Dunkirk Marauders on Wednesday night, meaning his team will have to make a quick mental turn around.

“We don’t have a lot of time to feel sorry for ourselves. I’m not one of those coaches that’ll say we’re going to hang our heads. We’re going to learn and get better,” Rush said.

While a 6-0 loss may signify the need for a lot of fine tuning, Rush thinks his team is in a decent spot, with a lot of season left to go.

“There’s not a ton we have to work on, it’s just when you play against a good team, you have to be sharp from the opening horn, and they scored two quick ones on us,” Rush said.

That showdown against dunkirk will be at Karl Hoeppner field for another primetime game, starting at 7 p.m. The Olean Huskies will visit Southwestern for a 4:30 p.m. start.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today