by Steve Bradley
Last Friday, the HFCS boys soccer team headed up the highway to Schuylerville. They were going to face the Schuylerville Black Horses for sole possession of first place in the WASAREN league. The Black Horses had tied the Panthers in their first meeting earlier in the season, and the Panthers wanted to bring home a win.
It was not to be.
The teams played to a 1 – 1 tie, a situation neither team was happy about. The Black Horses took the lead first, and the Panthers had to overcome the deficit. In the second half, Drew Phillips cashed in on a penalty kick to tie the game.
From that point on, the teams battled back and forth, but neither could put the ball in the goal. After regulation and two overtimes, each team’s score stood at one. Noah Chani had several big saves for the Panthers that kept the Black Horses from adding to their total. The Panthers’ record at this point was 8 – 0 – 2.
Tuesday found the Panther boys at Delurey Field to face Greenwich. Halfway through the first half Max Haar found Eric Kaufmann for a goal. The 1 – 0 score held until there were six minutes left in the half. Then Haar scored a header from a free kick by Tyler Gaines. On their next possession Greenwich went right down the field and scored within a minute, making it a HF 2 – GW 1 game.
The Panthers found the net one more time before the half when Justin Gaines put a shot right at the goalie who cradled the ball in his arms for what should have been a sure stop and then fumbled the ball right into the net.
The Panthers added two more goals in second half, one by Drew Phillips and another by Haar, to end up with a 5 – 1 win.
Coming up this week, the boys will play Cambridge at the Hoosick Soccer Complex, Thursday, October 10, at 4:15 pm. On Saturday, October 12, they travel to Maple Hill to take on Ichabod Crane HS. Game time for that match is 1:15 pm. On Columbus Day, Monday, October 14, they again will play at Maple Hill HS against a TBA opponent. Game time is 1:15 pm.