FREMONT – Playing shorthanded and being on the wrong end of a couple referee whistles proved too strong a combination for the Little Giant boys soccer team to overcome Tuesday night.
Chris Navarro
Dylan Brady
Twice the Little Giants trimmed two-goal deficit in half but Ross never managed to even things up and the Findlay Trojans pulled away for a 6-2 TRAC win over the Little Giants.
Findlay opened the scoring about midway through the first half then added to its lead on a penalty kick with 15 minutes remaining before halftime.
Chris Navarro, however, trimmed the Trojan lead off an assist by Dylan Brady, but Findlay reclaimed the two-goal lead with about seven minutes remaining in the half.
“In our offensive third, we got fouled pretty hard but did not get called,” Ross coach Alex Coressel said of Findlay’s third goal. “Our guys kind of froze and they counter-attacked and we didn’t get back in time.”
Isaac Minor
Haydn Marsee
Brady scored early in the second half to bring Ross back to within one but Findlay answered right back with its fourth goal Ross never again climbed back into the game.
Despite the loss, Coressel like what he saw from his team, particularly as the Little Giants had to shuffle its personnel to overcome a pair of starters missing from its lineup.
“It was kind of a learning night, it was a night for some young guys to step up and some did that,” he said. “I think we found a couple nice pieces there that can help us the rest of the season.”
Coressel was impressed by work on the back end by freshman Haydn Marsee and Isaac Minor, moved from his usual forward position, and from Jared Adkins.
Jared Adkins
“(Marsee) played an extremely large portion of the game and did some very good stuff on the outside,” Coressel said. “Isaac Minor filled the other outside back tonight even though he’s more of an offensive guy, he did a phenomenal job on the outside, not really being a defensive player. Those guys came through.
“We got some good minutes from Jared Adkins tonight, who hasn’t seen the field a ton this season but he bounced around in a couple different spots and in nice stretch played midfield for 20-25 minutes for us.”
The loss drops the Little Giants to 6-5 overall, 2-3 in the TRAC. Ross returns to action Thursday as it hosts Old Fort.