Evan Jones with the individual effort for the goal 3-0 Hall in second half #ctbsoc pic.twitter.com/sO1F05X4Yb
— Scott Ericson (@EricsonSports) October 11, 2019
BURLINGTON — The Hall boys soccer team was a little worried about having to play on a smaller pitch than it is used to when visiting Lewis Mills Friday afternoon.
To prepare, Hall, ranked No. 4 in the coaches Class LL/L poll, practiced in a smaller space Thursday afternoon.
Turns out, the size of the field mattered very little as Hall controlled the ball most of the afternoon on the way to an easy 6-0 win on the road.
“We played on a smaller field yesterday because we knew this was going to be small,” Hall junior forward Evan Jones said. “We are used to playing out wide, but with a field that’s narrower we needed to adjust that. It was definitely different playing in the smaller space. We also play differently on grass. It was harder, but we got it done.”
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Playing possession-based soccer, Hall moved the ball around in the first half, waiting for scoring chances to emerge.
The chances soon came with Drew Seguro finding Jamie Cowan in front of the net and Cowan finishing with a shot in the upper right corner.
Later in the first half, Hall scored again with little resistance as the Lewis Mills defense broke down.
This time it was Lucas Almeida scoring off a pass from Maximus Bunker.
“To be honest, I thought we allowed two soft goals in the first half,” Lewis Mills coach Ben Kulas said. “We played better in the second half, but things got away from us and Hall is so good, they make you pay for any mistake. They possessed the ball really well. They are well coached and have some really good players out there.”
Hall got second half goals from Jones, Isaiah Meyer and two from Tomas Persano.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Evan Jones, Hall. The junior forward scored a goal and assisted on another, leading a balanced attack. Jones goal in the second half was particularly nice as he dribbled through several defenders before placing his shot in the upper right corner.
QUOTABLE
“Coming in, we did a good job handling the smaller field. This field is 64 yards wide and we are typically playing on 70,” Hall coach Zeke Seguro said. “We knew coming in it was going to be tight. Wee did a good job staying organized and staying compact. We tried to keep working east to west and create number out wide. I thought (Lewis Mills) would come out and sit back but, to their credit, they actually came and played. They defended and tried to counter and they were pretty dangerous when they got up on offense.”
