Northview Titans Varsity Boys Game Summaries
Northview v. Pope Greyhounds 2-3
March 2, 2007
Tonight the Titans hit the road for their first region game against the Pope High School Greyhounds. It was a great evening for soccer with the temperature at 57F. Coach C. went back to his familiar 4-4-2 line-up but with some minor reshuffling due to the absence of Caulin Collier:-
Will Whorton
Tanner Chamblin Stephen Glover Jarrod Nesser Sam Bevan
Jimmy Mitchell Jacob Lee Dan Schwartz Pall Kornmayer
Russell Bradford Eric Carrion
Was this going to be the theme with the officials for the night? After 18 SECONDS, the referee gives a yellow card to Sam Bevan for a foul outside of the Titans’ penalty box. Steve Kim replaced Sam. The long range free kick was deflected out by Stephen Glover for a corner which was well cleared by the Titans. In the 4th minute, Will Whorton was called into real action for the first time and shortly thereafter Sam Bevan re-entered the game. Jacob Lee then showed his class as he won the ball in midfield, dummied his way passed the first Pope player only to be dropped by the incoming defender who earned a yellow card for his efforts. Sam Bevan’s shot from the free kick was high and wide. A couple of minutes later, Jacob Lee threaded a ball through to Eric Carrion but the Pope goalie smothered the ball at Eric’s feet. The Titans won their first corner in the 9th minute and Jacob Lee’s cross was headed wide by Sam Bevan. After six minutes of play the referee awarded Pope a free kick in the center circle but before the kick could be taken the whole stadium saw and heard him berate a Pope player for dissention. This ref was definitely trying to show who was in charge. The free kick was well caught by Will Whorton. Tanner Chamblin had an excellent start to the game with several timely tackles and interceptions in the first ten minutes.
At the 12 minute mark, Jarrod Neser had an opportunity for one of his long throws but the tall Pope defense brought the ball out and only a foul by Stephen Glover in the center circle stopped them from advancing. Northview won a free kick outside of the Pope box and Sam Bevan hammered home the kick to give Northview the lead. Northview won a free kick in the 15th minute and Jacob Lee’s cross was back headed by Sam Bevan and although he beat the Pope goalie it went wide. Josh Taylor then came on for Pall Magnus Kornmayer. With 16 minutes gone, Jacob Lee passed to Russell Bradford whose shot was wide of the Greyhound’s goal. From the goal kick, Pope attacked and with a quick break that gave Will Whorton no chance, they equalized in the 17th minute. Pope looked in control at this stage and won a free kick one yard outside of the Titans’ box. The free kick was hard but it was blocked by Northview’s wall. Next a long throw by Pope was headed out by the Titans to a Pope player who hammered it back towards goal and, thankfully, Will Whorton caught it on the line.
Pope scored their second goal when a corner was headed back towards the corner taker and his second cross went to the back post where a Pope forward was free to head easily past the Titans’ goalie.
With 20 mins gone the Titans had the ball in the Pope goal. Jarrod Neser took a long throw that Eric Carrion headed back to Dan Schwartz and his shot produced a great save by the Pope goalie diving to his top right hand corner. The ball came off the bar and Russell Bradford was waiting to tap it in, however, after consulting with his AR the referee called it offside.
Pope also had someone with a long throw and he was causing some consternation in the Titans’ defense all night. In the 31st minute Stephen Glover made a great sliding tackle to stop a Pope forward but the ball went out for a throw-in four yards from the corner flag. The long throw was caught by Will Whorton on his goal line. Pope’s next corner was a short one that Stephen Glover cut out and he then made a cross field pass to Russell Bradford who was stopped half way down the Pope side of the field. Ramu Annamalai replaced Jimmy Mitchell and as the half wore down the Titans put pressure on Pope, however, their goalie was in excellent form and caught everything as the Titans’ forwards closed in on him. At half time it was Pope 2 – 1 Titans.
The second half saw Cameron Pratt enter the game and it was a frantic start with end to end exchanges by both teams. Northview’s forwards were vertically challenged compared to the Pope defenders and, therefore, when the Titans began to play the ball on the ground, it was much more effective.
Pope had a good chance in the 48th minute when a forward had a clean chance at a header but put it wide. Jacob Lee then had a long range shot which the Greyhound’s goalkeeper held onto as Russell Bradford closed in looking for a loose ball. The Titans were efficiently closing down the Pope goalie but he responded well and held onto everything that came his way.
Dan Schwartz picked up his first yellow card of the season in the 55th minute. The resulting free kick was, however, easily handled by Will Whorton. Dan was replaced by Steve Kim. Three minutes later Dan came back on replacing Pall Kornmayer. In the 62nd minute, Russell Bradford and Steve Kim combined to feed the ball to Jacob Lee and as Jacob worked his way into the left side of the penalty area he was unceremoniously dumped on the ground. Jacob had been a thorn in Pope’s side all night and he kept it up by nicely slotting away the penalty to tie the game at 2- 2.
The Titans kept attacking Pope and a wonderful free kick by Jacob Lee forced the Pope goalie to make a great save on his goal line. With nine minutes to go, Cameron Pratt then collected his first yellow of the season for a late tackle. He was replaced by Josh Taylor on the right wing. In the 74th minute the Titans had a good opportunity to take the lead as Sam Bevan passed to Russell Bradford on the edge of the box, Russell took the defender one way then turned back to fire a left foot shot wide. The Titans were the more dangerous of the two teams towards the end of the game but it was Pope that nearly snatched a dramatic winner with seconds left on the clock.
Regulation time ended 2 – 2. There were two five minute periods of extra time and neither team really threatened to score so the game was decided on penalties. Pope took their penalties first and scored on each attempt. Stephen Glover scored the Titans first penalty. Dan Schwartz was up second and although he hit it well to the right the Pope goalie knocked it up and over the bar. Sam Bevan finessed the third penalty with a pile driver and then Cameron Pratt drove his penalty to the top right of the goalie. Leading 4 – 3 Pope scored on their last penalty so Northview couldn’t catch them and lost 5 – 3 on penalties. A great game by both teams!
Final score: Pope Greyhounds 2 – 2 Northview Titans
Pope win 5 – 3 on penalty kicks
