KINGWOOD — University High clinched a home match in next week’s sectional tournament and used a strong second half offensively to secure a 9-1 victory against Preston High on Thursday.
For all but the last five minutes of the first half, the two rivals battled to an entertaining 1-1 stalemate, but the relentless Hawks offensive pressure finally broke through.
UHS (5-12-2) scored three quick goals and then added five more in the second half for the win.
The Hawks finally solved Preston senior keeper Laydon Brandt (who finished with 18 saves) in the ninth minute after numerous chances when sophomore Alex Maldonado collected a rebound of his own shot and buried it for the opening goal.
However, 10 minutes later, an effective counter attack by the Knights led to a corner kick, and sophomore Cordell Ayers’ dangerous service into the box with drilled home by freshman Samuel Klimas, knotting the score at 1-1.
With less than five minutes left in the half, University senior Garret Scardina potted two stunningly quick goals, the first an easy clean-up of a rebound, and the other on a calm finish after fellow senior Charlie Walker sent him in all alone.
The backbreaker came with just seven seconds on the clock, as junior Dylan Wintle pounced on a loose ball in the box and bumped it toward the goal, where it dribbled in off a defenseman for a 4-1 lead.
The Hawks still needed to score in order to reach potential tiebreaker status for sectional tournament seeding, and that’s exactly what they did, as junior Pham Homklin gathered a through ball down the left side and buried his shot into the corner in the 45th minute.
Two minutes later, senior Kellen Adams fired in goal number six. A pair of freshmen, Brady Grubb and Wesley DeLeurere both fired excellent finishing shots at the 60 minute and 68th minute marks, and sophomore Iker Ruiz capped the scoring with an impressive dipping right-footed shot into the top part of the net from 25 yards out.
University coach Mike Smith was, for the most part, pleased with his team’s execution.
“We really wanted that clean sheet,” Smith said, “and that might be the deciding factor for where we play in next Tuesday’s sectional first-round game. But we kept our poise and continued to press the attack, and it was good to the see some quality strikes go in for us. I’m hoping that can carry over a bit. I don’t think our record accurately reflects the quality of our team, and the post-season gives us a chance to prove it, especially since none of the teams between us and the state tournament really dominated us.”
Preston coach Josh Russell was quite enthusiastic about his fledgling squad’s first half performance.
“You know, that was the first goal we’ve scored against University in four or five years,” Russel said. “We played even with them for almost 40 minutes, but the mental and physical toll that comes from facing that much pressure is hard to handle, especially for a young team.”
