By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
METAMORA (September 7, 2024) – When you know how to win, even when things aren’t going your way, you know how to win, and for the last four years, Evergreen has won a lot on the soccer field.
For nearly 70 minutes because of a combination of great saves by Pettisville goalie Rylan Warner, and misfired opportunities by Evergreen, the Vikings couldn’t dent the scoreboard against the Blackbirds.
But one big play turned into another that led to a Konnor Sanford goal off a corner kick and Luke Woodring got one past Warner in the last minute to give the Vikings a 2-0 triumph over the ‘Birds.
“It was one of those days where we couldn’t will the ball into the net,” Viking coach David Skoczyn II said after the game.
“We had so many chances and their goalie played a played a great game, he made some unbelievable saves to keep them in the game and we missed some great opportunities as well.”
“We just needed to find a way and that’s what we told them at halftime, we just have to get one and they’ll come. We said to keep the ball on frame, and we have to find the corners of the net and we did finally.”
A blueprint of the majority of the match was illustrated in the first five minutes when Woodring had a chance to put the Vikes on the board and popped a header over Warner, but his attempt went wide.
That began a series of unfortunate events offensively for the Vikings. Sanford’s hooking drive was speared by Warner three minutes later, then Blake Fisher and Woodring had attempts from out front 14 minutes in, but Warner made saves on both to keep the match scoreless.
Evergreen had two more premium scoring attacks in the first half, but Tyson Lapoint’s shot 1-v-1 after he got loose on the left of the net went over Warner and over the net and Woodring’s header off John Herdman’s up field pass went wide right.
Warner made six first half saves, and Evergreen missed on four more tries while the Blackbirds had two shots, neither of which was a threat.
The Blackbirds’ Casin Nofziger eluded a Viking defender left of the goalie 16 minutes into the second, but Viking goalie Alex Mossing made his only difficult save of the day with a sliding knock away of Nofziger’s run to the goal.
Warner batted away three more golden chances by the Vikes in the first 20-plus minutes before Evergreen finally found the formula to make one into the back of the net.
Sean Rafferty’s drop pass to Gavin Raby sliding down the right sideline, and Raby’s race to the net ended with a Blackbird defender knocking the sphere across the goal line, giving Evergreen a corner.
Herdman dropped a dime on the backside and Sanford was ready near the post to head it in with 11:30 to go to put Evergreen on top 1-0.
“That sequence was some of the soccer we expect,” Skoczyn said of the play that led to the scoring corner.
“Sean has had a rough season because of injuries and getting him back on the field for us as a team and for him.”
“For Sean to be able to start the play that eventually led to a goal is a huge booster for him and Gavin making the run, it’s a snowball effect where one good play led to another and another.”
“Great ball from John and great header by Konnor being where he supposed to be, that’s been our bread-and-butter the last couple years,” Skoczyn explained. “We’ve struggled a little bit this year, but we are getting better the last week or so.”
The Vikings iced the game when Jake Farley’s clearing pass over the top was chased down by Woodring, and the sophomore forward knocked it past a charging Warner with 58 ticks left for the final margin.
“Good to see Luke get one too, he has been getting better and better each game and now he’s scored a couple in a row, so he becomes another threat for us, especially with all the injuries we’ve had,” Skoczyn said of his speedy sophomore forward.
In all, the Vikings had 19 shots compared to four for Pettisville. Warner had 10 saves for the night. The Vikings are now 4-2-1 on the year. Pettisville fell to 1-4.