Sam Durbin, boys soccer
LIMA – The Ross boys soccer team was not a happy bunch at halftime Tuesday evening. And for good reason.
The Little Giants saw a three-goal lead vanish in the span of 10 minutes and found themselves tied at 4 in their Three Rivers Athletic Conference opener at Lima Senior.
However, after a stern intermission, Ross regrouped itself, as the defense clamped down and the offense found patience and the Little Giants went on to a 7-4 victory.
“They knew we were up and had it in the bag and just needed to finish it off, and we made some very poor decisions,” coach Alex Coressel said. “We were unmotivated, playing pretty lazy in the first (half) and unintelligent. We made bad choices defensively, with those two fouls, and offensively we tried to do things we’re not capable of doing instead of slowing down and playing our game.”
Following the halftime, the defense started communicating. Instead of two or three defenders attacking the ball, one man challenged the ball and the others maintained their positions. On offense, the Little Giants remained patient, waiting for the Spartans to try to move the ball out of their defensive end and then counter-attacking.
Sam Durbin, who scored three goals in a span of eight minutes in the first half, added a fourth to his total to give his team the lead once again at the midway point of the second half. His four goals Tuesday increase his season total to seven in three games.
“There was one (goal) that was from about half-field,” Coressel said of Durbin’s big night. “He just fired it and they had a shorter keeper and he was able to put it right over top of him. He just took the opportunities that were there. He wasn’t forcing anything tonight.”
Alec Slemmer, boys soccer
Alec Slemmer also a good night, scoring two goals with two assists. Like Durbin, Slemmer has scored at least one goal in each of Ross’ three games this season.
Drew Miesle also scored and had an assist for the Little Giants. Isaac Minor also notched an assist.
The victory keeps Ross unbeaten this season (3-0) and begins the league schedule on a positive note.
The Little Giants have some down time, their next game isn’t until Sept. 5 at home against Toledo Central Catholic.
“It’s nice to be 1-0 in the TRAC and get the rest of the week off,” Coressel said. “(We’re going to) make sure we’re healthy and get the work in and correct the quite a few mistakes we saw tonight.”