Packers roll Stewartville in opener
Published 9:09 pm Friday, August 24, 2012
Austin's Abinyan Lual gains control of the ball as Stewartville's Kurtis Keller stumbles past in the first half Friday night at Art Hass Stadium. -- Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
Austin senior Omot Okello is getting to know his new teammates pretty quickly.
Okello, who transferred to Austin from Worthington last year, made his debut for the Packer boys soccer team as they beat Stewartville 8-1 in Art Hass Stadium in their season opener Friday.
Austin's Roel Torres carries the ball past Stewartville's Ryan Quandt during the second half Friday night at Art Hass Stadium.
Okello made a strong run and passed back to Jake Hagen-Erickson for an easy goal that made it 6-0 late in the first half and Okello added a goal of his own on a header from Francisco Torres to make it 7-0 in the first minute of the second half.
“It was real fun,” Okello said “It’s a new team and a new coach and it’s hard for me to know how to play early on. We’ve got some pretty good guys and I think we played good.”
Austin sophomore Roel Torres was key to the fast start for the Packers (1-0 overall) as well as he dribbled past a defender and scored to make it 2-0 and he connected on a 20-yard free kick to make it 4-0.
Roel Torres added two assists, but he wasn’t happy with the way the Packers slowed down in the second half.
“We just got a little overconfident in the end and we started slowing down. We let a goal in and we wanted to keep them at zero,” he said. “We’re gonna start working even harder for when we play some tougher teams coming up. We’ve got to snap out of it.”
The Packers finished with 40 shots on goal as they dominated possession, but some of their shots weren’t the best looks because they were bunched up too often.
“I saw guys were pushing up further than they should and not trusting their teammates,” Austin head coach Jens Levisen said. “We’ve talked about mutual trust and giving space. If you have too many guys up, then there’s no space to work and you’re leaving space behind you.”
SCORING SUMMARY
(A) Jake Hagen-Erickson, 9th minute
Austin's Levi Vierkandt puts a shot on goal during the first half Friday night against Stewartville at Art Hass Stadium.
(A) Roel Torres, 11th minute
(A) Abinyan Lual (Hagen-Erickson), 20th minute
(A) Roel Torres, 20th minute
(A) Levi Vierkandt (Roel Torres), 24th minute
(A) Hagen-Erickson (Omot Okello), 32nd minute
(A) Okello (Francisco Torres), 41st minute
(S) Mitch Ostergard, 47th minute
(A) Nick Brehmer (Roel Torres), 60th minute
