Ross’ Dylan Brady fires a shot against Toledo Start.
All photos by Tony Zimmerman/RSR
FREMONT – Rain and cold can make for a sloppy game on the soccer field. Take away one of your best players and things can get downright messy.
Though Fremont Ross battled the conditions and being without midfielder Sam Durbin due to illness, the Little Giants did something they may not have a year or two ago. They persevered.
Ross held off a defensively-sound Toledo Start team and kept its unblemished record intact, winning Thursday night 2-1.
“In the past, when one little thing went wrong, a player was out we weren’t expecting or we gave up a goal we probably shouldn’t have, in the past we would fold,” coach Alex Coressel said. “We did not do that tonight. We stayed after it. It was 2-1 at half and we battled the entire second half to not let them score.
“We knew it would be a dogfight all night,” he added. “We hung in there and were able to pull it out.”
With Durbin out of the lineup, the Little Giants were forced to shuffle their starting lineup with several players finding themselves in different positions, which showed at times.
Ross Dres Miesle dribbles the ball against Toledo Start
All photos by Tony Zimmerman/RSR
“We just didn’t communicate on defense a lot of times, the ball would skip and we didn’t get in front of it,” Coressel said. “Offensively, we tried to be too fancy and play balls through the air…instead of pass on the ground and make things easy on ourselves.”
Dylan Brady scored and had an assist on and Alec Slemmer’s goal. Goalkeeper Mikey Contreras made eight saves and assisted on Brady’s goal.
“I think the biggest thing is everybody stepped up and took on different roles and were more willing to do what was needed in order to get the W,” Coressel said. “Dylan Brady is normally our attacking midfielder and we got it down to the last 15 minutes and, I didn’t have to say anything, he dropped back to the defensive mid to help us out defensively so we wouldn’t let them score again.”
Ross remains undefeated, 5-0 overall, and is 2-0 in the Three Rivers Athletic Conference. The Little Giants are back in action at Whitmer on Tuesday at 7 p.m.