Morgantown’s Ahmad Mikky (left) controls the ball. 
Morgantown’s Caden Carpenter (left) tries to keep the ball from a John Marshall defender. 
Morgantown’s Caden Carpenter controls the ball. 
Morgantown’s Caden Carpenter controls the ball.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Starting their season off in a slump, the Morgantown boys’ soccer team weaved through a sluggish John Marshall defense to come back from a two game slump and post a 13-goal shutout win Thursday.
Prior to their first region game, the Mohigans (2-2) had a 3-13 goals for/against ratio and faced one shutout at home against George Washington. John Marshall (0-2) came into the meeting off a 7-0 loss to Brooke, its only matchup of the season prior to visiting Morgantown. With both teams’ backs against the wall, Morgantown capitalized on the downtrodden Monarchs for the win.
Key in the victory was an aggressive offense spearheaded by senior strikers Ahmad Mikky and sophomore Caden Carpenter.
“I’m working hard every day, and the coaches are helping me a lot,” Mikky said. “Last year, we were playing harder and not smarter. This year, we’re finding the gaps to play smarter.”
Coach Sam Snyder noted that in his two years coaching Mikky that he’s been “a joy” to work with.
“When he first showed up he could barely speak English and he’s grown well with the team,” Snyder said. “He works extremely hard and we just love his will and hunger to play. This is his first year really getting it with the team, since last year he was still getting used to the new team and school.”
Morgantown received the ball first, but the Monarchs immediately seized on Morgantown’s slow backline play to force its way into easy goal range. After a JM turnover, though, Morgantown’s offense came to life and put its first shot on goal at the 2-minute mark.
The shot seemed to shatter the Monarchs’ backline defense because Carpenter and Mikky would put in back-to-back goals with 20 seconds between them.
Carpenter picked up his second goal just under the 15-minute mark off a quick horizontal dish by Joseph Taylor. The majority of the remaining minutes would be played on the Monarch’s side of the pitch, resulting in some JM tempers flaring, scrappy plays and two fouls. They would give Vivek Sriram and Carpenter free kicks, but both would go for naught.
Even though Morgantown missed opportunities from lack of communication and passing in the box, with a collapsing Monarchs defense, the Mohigans entered the half with a 3-0 lead and the game in the bag.
“Last year, we didn’t possess the ball, but this year we’re starting to do that and keep it more [like in] the first half,” Carpenter said.
Morgantown continued to capitalize on the tired backfield out of halftime, as Mikky pushed up the field to sink a shot at the 43-minute mark. Less than two minutes later, Mossimo Darmelio assisted Mikky in claiming his first hat trick of the year on a pass inside the box — a nice birthday gift for the senior.
With 23:53 left in the match, Azain Uqaily launched a shot to break the six-goal threshold between the left pole and Gabe Carman’s right leg.
The rest of the game belonged to Morgantown.
At the 69-minute mark, John Marshall substituted nearly its whole squad on the field, opening up Mikky for his fourth goal of the night less than two minutes later. After the goal, the Monarchs substituted their remaining starters. Then, at the 72-minute mark, Ben Rosiello picked up his first goal feet in front of the keeper followed by Taylor sinking a goal at the 75-minute mark.
Uqaily snapped the 10-goal threshold one minute later after breaking down the middle of the pitch. Braxton Johnson followed by finding the net after juking a defender on the sideline and slicing it through the keeper’s hands. Finally, at the 79-minute mark, Sriram added goal 12 for Morgantown before turning around with seconds left on the board to assist freshman James Percifield on the final goal of the night.
“Our issue on this team isn’t lack of talent, it’s grit and finding out our identity,” Snyder said. “[We have to] find out who we are as men, and what we can do together as a team. The only people we’re going to be evaluating the rest of the year is ourselves.
“Today was a step in the right direction, but a lot of it is figuring out how we’re going to possess the ball and limit turnovers. Tonight, they grew in what we wanted to grow in. I’m pretty happy about the results.”
