MORGANTOWN — The University High boys’ soccer team hosted a quality side in Linsly on Tuesday evening at Mylan Pharmaceutical Stadium, and despite a strong defensive effort and wonderful showing from goalkeeper Connor Montgomery, the Hawks fell to the Cadets 1-0 on a goal in the first half by Diego Gonzalez.
The first 10 minutes seemed to fly by as the action went end-to-end, with both sides producing some decent build-up play into its opponents defensive third. The Hawks (0-3-1) began the game on the front foot but only slightly, winning the battle for pressure. This resulted in three early corner kicks but no goals would come from any.
The match remained scoreless after 20 minutes, in part due to Montgomery’s strength in-between the posts for the Hawks. He made two of his many saves on the night early on to keep the game level.
With just 15 minutes to play in the first half, UHS had the ball in the Cadets (5-0) half and looked to be creating a chance on the net. Out of nowhere it seemed, the Cadets had taken the ball from the UHS midfield and striker Gonzalez worked a solo effort into the box before placing a shot to the far corner that went off the post and into the net to give Linsly a 1-0 lead.
The score was almost doubled just before the break but another huge save from Montgomery sent us to half at 1-0.
The Cadets showed themselves settling into the game and getting a feel for the flow the later the first half went on with the Hawks beginning to feel the pressure.
Still, despite the deficit, UHS head coach Michael Smith said he saw some of his team’s best play this season so far.
“It was a very physical game tonight, and that’s one thing to improve for us,” he said. “But I’ll be honest, there were ways out there tonight that I thought we played our best game so far. At the same time, we hurt ourselves so it was a mixed bag, for sure. There’s a lot to learn from and our mistakes tonight are all fixable.”
The closest chance for Smith’s side came as a mistake from the Cadets after a UHS free kick was sent into the box. The Cadets keeper and a defender ran into each another and the ball squeaked past the far post, nearly tying the game on an own goal.
Neither side added to the lone goal of the night, and UHS fell to Linsly 1-0.
UHS played some close games thus far, only allowing seven goals in four games against tough opponents. However, the Hawks have only managed to find the back of the net twice in those four matches, something Smith knows he needs to have to support the strong efforts of his defense.
“Connor was absolutely player of the game for us tonight,” Smith said of the efforts of his last line of defense. “I think part of improving is how we changed our style of play this year and getting comfortable with adapting to that. We are still learning some of the responsibilities but we see some good things and I have to believe our chances will come as we go on.”
UHS will travel to Wheeling Park on Thursday before returning home at noon Saturday, hosting Greenbrier East.
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