SANDUSKY – In evenly-played matches where teams of similar skill sets are pitted against one another, the smallest things can make the difference. A shot ringing off the post, a pass just off the mark or simply a bad bounce of the ball can be the difference between a win, a tie or a loss.
Both the Fremont Ross boys and girls soccer teams saw that play out Saturday afternoon as they battled rival Sandusky in a regular-season finale doubleheader.
The boys teams traded goals in the first half before a scoreless second half knotted their game into a 1-1 tie. The girls game played 60 minutes of scoreless soccer until Sandusky scored the only goal of the game in the Lady Giants’ 1-0 loss.
Jared Adkins
Adkins’ late saves hold onto tie for Little Giants
Jared Adkins hasn’t been called upon often in goal for the Little Giants this season, but thrown into action Saturday, the sophomore more than rose to the challenge.
With starting keeper Caleb Bennison not available due to a family obligation, it fell on Adkins to turn away the Blue Streaks as both teams desperately sought the go-ahead goal in the late stages of the boys’ game.
Twice in the final 10 minutes of the game, with a Blue Streak forward barreling down on him, Adkins rushed out from his net and performed terrific sliding tackles to scoop up the ball and thwart the Sandusky scoring chance. Sandusky fired 10 shots toward Adkins, who made three saves.
“Jared Adkins, the way he played today, wow. Absolutely huge,” boys coach Alex Coressel said. “It’s not just he’s back-up, but he’s a back-up who’s hardly seen any time, expect for games in a blowout.
“He had about two saves on the season (coming in to the game) and both of them were cupcake saves. Against a team of their caliber, and a couple of their strikers are really good, for him to come up big in those big moments, that says a lot about him.”
Isaac Minor controls a loose ball Saturday against Sandusky.
Adkins’ stops allowed Ross to have its last chance to get the game-winner as the Little Giants pressured the Blue Streaks’ end of the field for the final minute of the game, including a shot on goal by Dylan Brady in the final 30 seconds, which was turned away from Sandusky goalkeeper Ja’Torry Johnson, who made five saves on Ross’ 13 shots fired at the goal.
The Little Giants’ best chance of the game came seven minutes into the match when a shot rang off the crossbar and the ensuing rebound was stopped by Johnson.
“Those are so painful, and to see it bounce around two or three times and take a couple more shots and we don’t finish one, it’s frustrating,” Coressel said. “There’s always that one play that can define a game and that could have been it.”
With Bennison gone and Cesar Flores injured, the Little Giants played a short bench, only using two subs the entire game and just one, Haydn Marcee, in the second half. Despite their shorthanded status, Coressel thought his team played strong from the start and continued through the afternoon.
Dylan Brady plays a ball off his chest against Sandusky Saturday.
“Our kids came ready to play,” he said. “They knew, the group that started on the field, it was in their hands, there was no one to turn to, no one to come in and save them, to be able to fix things for them body-wise. They had to step in and play for 80 minutes.”
The Little Giants scored the game’s first goal as Brady cashed in on a shot from 15 yards out with 13 minutes to play in the first half.
The lead, however, didn’t last for long as the Blue Streaks answered with two minutes remaining in the first half.
“It took a bad bounce and took a left turn into the net,” Coressel said. “It was heading toward the right post, came back and had a little bit of spin on it and there was nothing (Adkins could do).”
Ross’ regular season ends with a record of 9-6-1 overall. The Little Giants will play at Perrysburg High School in the opening-round of the postseason tournament Thursday at 5 p.m.
The Lady Giant soccer team’s starters are introduced prior to the their game at Sandusky Saturday.
Lady Giants unable to get on the board
Lady Giant coach Phil Collison couldn’t find fault with how badly his team wanted to win Saturday. If anything, the Lady Giants wanted it too much.
“I think we tried too hard. We tried to do too much too quickly,” Collison said. “We didn’t play simple, I think, at times. (Sandusky) didn’t outplay, I think.”
Ross and Sandusky played an even, back-and-forth match, with neither team controlling the tempo of the match for extended periods of time. Ross fired 10 shots toward the Sandusky net and the Blue Streaks shot the ball nine times at the Lady Giant goal with each team’s keeper making six saves.
The only goal of the match came with 19 minutes to play. Sandusky was awarded a free kick 20 yards from the Lady Giants’ net. The Blue Streaks fired the ball into a large group in the goal box, the ball bounced out to the foot of Kira Roldan whose shot found the back of the net.
“It was an unfortunate call and (the official) made them get off the ball 15 to 20 yards, instead of the 10, and it gave them the room to do that and we didn’t get it cleared,” Collison said. “Just unlucky.”
Ross’ Justine Michael fires a shot toward the Sandusky goal Saturday.
While the Lady Giants continued to mount attacking pressure, they never generated a serious scoring threat. Ross’ offense never quite settled into a smooth attack. Passes missed their target or didn’t have enough power to them and when the Lady Giants did get a shot on the Blue Streak goalkeeper, they never quite got a full kick on the ball.
“Too hurried,” Collison said of the offense. “They didn’t settle the ball enough and let things happen. They didn’t get a good touch on the ball, a good strike, a good anything.
“It was just a little off. Not awful, but not well-played at times.”
The loss drops the Lady Giants down to 4-10-2 overall. The Lady Giants will play at Anthony Wayne Wednesday in their postseason tournament-opener.
Collison, however, who has decided to step down as coach after the season, won’t be able to coach in the Lady Giants’ game at Anthony Wayne, signaling, barring a Ross upset of Anthony Wayne, Saturday was his last as coach of the Lady Giants.
“It’s a little bittersweet,” he said. “I would have liked to have ended it a different way. But that’s the way it goes sometimes. That’s sports.”