Defense has led Horizon Christian in most of its soccer games this season, but Coach Andrew Stenberg knows his team will need to improve its offense in order to remain in contention for the playoffs.
The Hawks lost their first District 7 match Saturday, 1-0, at home against Grand View Christian, as the visitors scored a late goal on an unusual indirect free kick. The evenly-played match was decided after a foul was called as Hawk goalie Josh Rogers was scrambling on his knees to collect a rebound. As Rogers was extended to corral the ball, defender Jesse Williams was blocking off a Grand View player.
“Josh went down to get the ball. Defenders will protect their keepers. Jesse was doing what we want him to do, protect his goalie. He was basically blocking out; Josh already had the ball,” Stenberg said. “The referee decided (Jesse) was too aggressive.”
The foul was in the penalty area, but away from the ball, so Grand View was awarded an indirect free kick — at essentially point-blank range. “He (the Grand View player) tapped it to another player who chipped it in,” over the Hawk wall of players, Stenberg said.
Horizon had at least a half a dozen chances to score, mostly in the second half, but couldn’t convert. The last, and perhaps, best opportunity came in the closing minutes, when midfielder Kai Robertson’s direct free kick from 20 meters out sailed a couple of feet over the crossbar.
Rogers kept Horizon in the match with a number of saves, including one late in the first half on a 30-meter arching shot. The junior keeper kept his eye on the ball as he was backpedaling to the goal line. He timed his jump perfectly to tip the ball over the crossbar.
Stenberg said, “Grand View is the top team in the league right now. For 77 minutes we played right with them. They had been scoring six, seven, eight goals, so it just kind of shows our defense is kind of incredible. But we’ve got to work this week on getting the ball into the back of the net.” Grand View had outscored three league opponents 21-2 heading into Saturday’s match.
Earlier last week, Stenberg said he used a non-league match against visiting Trout Lake to give his reserves some playing time and allow some of his starters a chance to rest and heal. Trout Lake received goals from Rain Norman and Wynsome Painter to defeat the Hawks, 2-0. Norman’s goal came at the 20-minute mark when the Hawks’ defense failed to clear the ball from its end. Painter scored midway through the second half. With the win, Trout Lake improved its record to 1-2-0.
Horizon is 1-2-2 overall and 1-1-2 in league with five points.
“I think that if we can work on our offense, work on our finishing … we’re in a good position in our next three games,” Stenberg said. “The top four teams go into the playoffs.” The Hawk playoff push begins Monday with a road match against Faith Bible at Hillsboro Stadium.
Commented