Boys soccer: Packer boys use homefield advantage to get back on track
Published 11:23 pm Thursday, September 24, 2015
Austin’s Matias Parada moves the ball past Red Wing’s Jack Barlow during the first half at Art Hass Field Thursday night. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
After completing a five game road stretch that saw them grab just one win, the Packer boys soccer team was glad to be back in Art Hass Stadium Thursday.
The Packers (5-2-3 overall, 3-2-2 Big Nine) stayed unbeaten at home for the season as they started strong and beat Red Wing 4-2. Austin is now 3-0-1 at home.
Austin’s Ochan Ochogi nearly gets his second goal as Red Wing goalie Payton Anderson slides to make the block during the first half Thursday night at Art Hass Stadium. Ochogi would get his second goal just minutes later. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
“Home sweet home,” said Austin junior Matias Parada, who scored two goals. “With that fan section and not having to go on a long bus ride, it was nice.”
Parada and senior Ochan Ochogi got the Packers started on a high note as they each got free for breakaway goals in the first three minutes of the first half. Parada scored his second goal of the night on a pin-point feed from Jon Maldonado and Ochogi scored the clincher on another breakaway to put Austin up 4-2 with 18:32 left in the game.
“We practice that every single practice and it finally came through and happened,” Ochogi said of the transition attacks. “[When you get loose] you’ve got to take it. You can’t wait for the second chance, you’ve got to take the first chance.”
Austin out-shot the Wingers (1-7-3 overall, 0-6-2 Big Nine) 24-15 in the win, but Red Wing was able to stay in the game. RW scored its first goal after Austin thought the ball had gone out of bounds and RW’s scored again when Hayden McNamee headed in a ball to make it a 3-2 game with 24:01 left in the game.
“The two goals that they scored were on communication mistakes,” Austin head coach Jens Levisen said. “On one [goal] we thought it was out, but we’ve got to keep playing until the whistle blows. On the other one we didn’t know which guy was going to step to it and that’s a communication mistake.”
Austin usually doesn’t play for the long ball, but Parada said the Wingers were playing with their defense up so that gave the Packers a chance to beat them deep. He said Austin wanted to be aggressive early on.
“We were looking to put them away as early as we could,” Parada said. “We were expecting to get two goals in the first ten minutes. When that through ball comes and you see yourself in space, that’s the best feeling in the world.”
Austin’s Jon Maldonado plays the ball in front of Red Wing’s Jack Barlow during the first half Thursday night at Art Hass Stadium. Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
Austin will host Rochester Lourdes (7-1-2 overall) noon Saturday in what will be a big game for both teams.
“That’s the one I’ve been waiting for. We’ve got to play our game,” Ochogi said.
