The Hillcrest Academy soccer team took on both Sigourney-Keota and a 30 mph breeze in a non conference match on Thursday. The cross wind frustrated the Ravens at times, but three second-half goals …
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The Hillcrest Academy soccer team took on both Sigourney-Keota and a 30 mph breeze in a non conference match on Thursday. The cross wind frustrated the Ravens at times, but three second-half goals allowed Hillcrest to pull away for a 5-1 win.
“We just tried to keep playing hard,” Hillcrest coach Marcus Miller said. “There was a stretch of time where it didn’t look like we knew how to kick a ball.”
The wind aided the Ravens on an early corner kick when a long shot from Grant Bender found the net. Gabe Bruns got a head on the ball to find Bender who put the shot into the air from about 25 yards away. The Cobra goalkeeper was unable to track the ball as the wind blew it into the goal.
“It took us a little time to adjust in the first half,” said Bruns. The Raven senior explained that keeping possession in the offensive half of the field was key to creating those scoring chances.
“We had 18 corner kicks,” he said, “from just pressuring them until they would kick it out of bounds or give us throw ins.”
Freshman Diego Ramos gave the Ravens a 2-0 lead with his fifth goal of the season, but Sigourney-Keota pulled within a goal before the half. The Raven defenders struggled to clear the ball from their own end in the strong wind, resulting in an open shot.
Despite the cross wind blowing slightly in the Cobras’ favor in the second half, the defense of Grant and Mason Bender, Andrew Starr and Seth Ours did not allow another score. Senior Goalie Aiden Krabill needed just three saves to preserve the win.
Raven senior Jorge Canchola restored the two-goal lead with a well-placed penalty kick in the second half. Jesse Blossom beat a pair of Sigourney-Keota defenders to the ball and added an insurance goal late in the second half, the first score of his career. His fellow freshman Micah Gerber, who had five of the Ravens’ 20 shots on Thursday, also found the net with his third shot on goal, to put the Ravens up 5-1 with about a minute left to play.
The win evens the Ravens’ record at 2-2. Hillcrest travels to Burlington on Monday to face the defending 1A state champions from Notre Dame/West Burlington.
