FREMONT – A three-goal second half blew open what had been a game closer on the scoreboard than it appeared to be on the field Thursday afternoon for the Little Giant boys soccer team.
Ross opened up a one-goal halftime lead into a 4-1 victory over Toledo Start, improving the Little Giants’ overall record to 5-2.
Alec Slemmer
“Start played relatively well, we had our chances going forward, just didn’t quite finish,” coach Alex Coressel said of his team’s first half. “It was a little bit of back-and-forth, but mostly in their end. We were creating a lot of stuff just not taking a lot of shots.
“The second half, (we had) the same creation that we had and (Start) kind of got worn down and got tired, it looked like,” he added. “Gaps opened up and through-balls opened up and we had a lot more chances in the second half.”
Alec Slemmer tallied two goals, one in each half, with Isaac Minor and Ayden Cater also added goals for the Little Giants.
“(Slemmer) had speed over the guys on the outside and we played him a couple through-balls that he was able to run onto and was able to outrun people and had a couple good finishes,” Coressel said. “He had a couple other shots that could-have, should-have gone in they just happened to get a last-second deflection on it before it went in the net. He had a really good shooting night.
Defensively, Coressel said the Little Giants played “phenomenal” in their own end with midfielder Brady Wolfe standing out.
Brady Wolfe
“He did a really good job of patrolling and getting to loose balls and had some very good balls going forward that gave us good scoring opportunities,” Coressel said. He did a great job in the midfield.”
Ross is coming up to a lull on its schedule and it couldn’t come at a better time. The Little Giants play just one game (Tuesday at home against Toledo Central Catholic) in the next 12 days. Good news for a team being ravaged by injuries, bumps and bruises.
“We are beat up as hell and we are going into triage,” Coressel said.
“They’re still fighting through. We’re going to manage right now, off (Friday) and all weekend. We’re going to get them Monday just some light walk-though to get them moving. We play Tuesday night then we get a week off after that. That time is going to be spent managing bodies and trying to get healthy and get everybody where they need to be for the stretch run.”