Strange goals flow fast and furiously for Battlefield
By Staff
A golden-rumped elephant shrew or Richard Simmons would need to be involved to create a more bizarre-looking collection of goals than the bunch scored Tuesday in Battlefield's 7-2 victory over the Liberty Eagles boys soccer team in Haymarket.The Eagles (1-2-1) first scored on a 45-yard free kick that magically found the head of a Liberty teammate in the box, and they later caught Battlefield (5-0) off guard by quickly resetting after a handball foul and scoring from 25 yards out.
Meanwhile, two of Battlefield’s scores were own-goals by the Eagles ? one off the torso of a defender and the other off the foot of a defender. A few of the Bobcats’ other goals came on rebounds or ricochets and another ball, intended as a cross, bounced over a player’s head and into the net.
“Some of it’s a comedy of errors,” LHS coach Tom Ritchie said afterward. “You go back to make a nice defensive play and it bounces off you and goes in the goal.”
That happened to Liberty’s Matt Ifert 10 minutes into the game, after his team had tied the score at 1-1 when Matt Judd launched a 45-yard free kick that Miles Rice headed in.
Ifert was hustling back during a Battlefield run in transition, but arrived too late. Battlefield’s Adam Clements beat Liberty goalkeeper Ryan Schmidt on the right side and kicked a powerful shot, but it bounced off the near post and ricocheted toward the center of the field where Ifert was sprinting toward the goal.
The ball hit Ifert in the torso and bounced back into the goal along with the LHS defender, giving Battlefield a 2-1 lead.
“I saw it hit the post and thought it was going out, and I was pretty mad,” Clements said. “But when it hit off their player, I was kind of relieved.
“We were all laughing about it. I felt bad, but it was still pretty funny.”
Ten minutes later, Duke Mensah scored when a shot was deflected directly to him and Reid McKee later scored by running down a rebound after Schmidt had made a nice diving save. Those goals gave Battlefield a 4-1 halftime lead.
Liberty closed the margin to 5-2 when Alex Sherman converted a free kick from 25 yards out before Battlefield could set its defense following a hand ball.
That score held for 18 minutes until Mensah kicked a left-to-right cross from 45 yards out to the face of the goal. Kyle Beach ran in from the right side, intending to head the ball in, but he ended up ducking under the ball. That provided enough distraction to put Liberty's keeper out of position and the ball bounced into the net.
"I was really surprised." Mensah said. "I thought my other player had it, but he missed it, and it just went in."
The scoring ended on another own-goal by Liberty with 1:30 remaining, when defender Noah Mitchel slid into the ball during a scramble in front of the goal.
"Luck helps every once in a while, but hopefully we don’t waste it all in games like this," Battlefield coach Ott Pimsaen said. "In a tight game, that little luck really helps."
The undefeated Bobcats obviously have plenty of talent, too. They used a relentless attack to exploit a Liberty defense hampered by injury, and outshot the Eagles 21-6.
“They put a lot of pressure up front. They’ve got some good, quick players...[who] play well together," Ritchie said. "They’re putting a lot of heat on the ball. They’re tough ones to stop."
Mensah and McKee finished with two goals apiece to lead Battlefield, while Clements had a goal, an assist and a role in Liberty's first own-goal.
“We’re a young team, but we've got a lot of athletes," said Pimsaen, whose Bobcats often beat Liberty to the ball. "That stood out at times. That’s the athleticism and style we play with."
Battlefield's athleticism helped it dominate possession and run away with the 7-2 win, but Ritchie doesn't expect the loss to leave Liberty dejected.
He took solace in knowing only the second meeting of the season between Cedar Run District teams will count toward the district standings.
"It doesn’t count. So you learn from it, and you hope you do better on our field," said Ritchie, whose Eagles will face Battlefield again May 2 at LHS. "I don’t know that there's a five goals difference, but they’re a good team."
In fact, the Bobcats are the best team Liberty has faced this season, Ritchie said. Despite having only two seniors, they appear to be district contenders under first-year coach Pimsaen, who took over for Steve Smith after two seasons as the junior varsity coach.
“We’re trying to win the district first, then, after that, we just take each game one at a time," Mensah said.