Upstart John Carroll boys soccer had a quality first half going against visiting Curley on Tuesday, but the Patriots didn’t have anything to show for their fine work as halftime approached.
In a nifty instant, forward Tommy Wysong, with help from midfielder Jacob Gensel, changed that.
Wysong ran on to a ball sent ahead by Gensel and then fended off a defender to gain needed space, hitting a precise shot from 14 yards that finished inside the lower left corner.
The goal came with 3:16 left until intermission and the Patriots followed with a sturdy defensive effort in the second half for a complete 1-0 upset win over the No. 2 Friars in Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference play.
John Carroll, coming off a rebuilding season a year ago that produced two wins, is serving early notice with a 4-0 mark that includes two conference wins. Curley, last year’s conference runner-up, is now 2-1-1 overall and 1-1-1 in conference play.
“I told the guys at halftime, I thought it was the best 40 minutes of soccer we put together, because you have some very, very good players on the other side that could put you under a good amount of pressure but we didn’t allow it,” John Carroll coach Jim Fendryk said. “And then once we made the decision to drop in [late in the second half], they naturally had a good amount of the ball, but we held up. So I thought it was good complete performance with very few negatives seeing in real time.
The Patriots were faster to the ball from the start and appeared to poised to break through sooner, but Curley goalie Josh Axt (seven saves) held his ground. In the 17th minute, Wysong had a blistering take from 18 yards that Axt made a diving save on. Five minutes later, Colin Bottean got behind the Friars’ defense to set up a shot from 12 yards that Axt came out aggressively on to cut down the angle.
Minutes after Zachary Rosser sent a free kick from 25 yards off the crossbar, the Patriots finally cashed in.
It took a quality pass from Gensel and the poised finish from Wysong, who’s tallied a goal in each of the Patriots’ four games this season.
“I have to give a lot of credit to my teammates,” said Wysong, who praised the fine all-around effort from Gensel. “We’re all just building off of last year. It was a pretty underwhelming year after losing a lot of seniors. From the first minute to the end today, we stuck together and fought hard.”
With the Friars pressing to equalize in the second half, the home team’s defense stood firm. It wasn’t easy.
Midway through, Curley defender Logan Palinkas served a free kick from midfield to the top of the penalty area that got the Friars’ push started. Matt Stitz flicked it further ahead for Jack Comey, whose shot from 8 yards went just wide of the left post.
Justin Jones sent in a cross from the right side that Stitz headed on goal, but Patriots goalie Liam Carter (five saves) was in position to make the save.
In the final minute, the Friars had quality build-up with Callen Kleinschmidt getting the ball ahead to Chase Matthai, who sent it out wide to Justin Jones. His cross to the near post found Ben Dicello, who redirected a header on goal that Carter was able to tip over the bar.
“We had a lot of good communication, a lot of teamwork. We’ve been working hard at practice on staying together as a team and even when bad things happen, we’re staying together and picking each other up,” Rosser, a team leader at center back, said.
Curley coach Barry Stitz was disappointed by the Friars’ slow first half, but encouraged with his group’s work in the second half.
“I thought we were much better in the second half, but, at the end of the day, we didn’t play well enough to win,” he said. “We just didn’t create enough chances until later in the game and we need a more consistent effort. We just got to be cleaner on the ball and we’ll figure it out. It’s still early and we’ll find a way to be more competitive.”
Both teams stay in conference place this week with Curley hosting Concordia Prep at 4 p.m. Thursday and John Carroll visiting two-time defending champion Loyola Blakefield at 6 p.m. Friday.
Goals: JC — Wysong
Assists: JC — Gensel
Saves: C — Axt 7; JC — Carter 5
Half: JC, 1-0
Have a news tip? Contact Glenn Graham at ggraham@baltsun.com, 410-332-6636 and x.com/GlennGrahamSun.
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