by Jeff Wickerham
After the rain had fallen all afternoon, it started to slow down and finally stopped, right before kickoff between the Tri-Valley Scotties 6-1-1 (3-1 MVL) and the Philo Electrics 2-4-1 (1-3 MVL).
Soccer is a team game and it takes all parts of the team to be successful. There are days though, where one player is feeling it. Today, Tri-Valley had one of those players, in Junior Yuvi Bastola.
8 minutes in, Sophomore Cris Carpenter had the ball in Philo’s penalty box and was taken down, which meant a penalty kick was issued to the Scotties. Bastola took the kick and buried it in the back of the net. 1-0 Scotties.
At the 25-minute mark, Junior Nick Flarey passed the ball to Bastola who again put a rocket into the net. Tri-Valley 2, Philo 0.
The clock hit 40 minutes and both teams took their 10-minute halftime break. Play was even for the first 19 minutes of the 2nd half, but when Senior Captain Sam Schott fired the ball to the goal, the keeper made an awesome save. The bad part for Philo, Bastola was there to clean up and touched the ball into the net for his 3rd goal of the match.
At the 72 minute, Bastola again led the charge this time firing the ball right at the keeper, who deflected it into his own player, which rebounded into their goal, giving Bastola his 4th goal of the game. He wasn’t done yet though.
Two minutes later, Junior Laetyn Holdsworth played a beautiful ball to Schott, who slipped it to guess who…Bastola. Yuvi put the ball into the net for his 5th and final goal of the match. Scotties 5, Electrics 0.
The defense was back to its old ways, helping Owen Harney record his 4th clean sheet of the season, recording 6 saves. Senior Ethan McLellan, Sophomore Oliver Baker, and Senior Captains Devin Watts and Camden Wickerham were the starting defensive group which cleared the ball when needed, but also played it out of the back line, to their midfield.
Freshman Corbin Ryan, Juniors Dominic Dale and Bastola, and Senior Elijah Felumlee were strong in that midfield, and Sophomore Cris Carptenter and Schott were the two on the front line. Subs for the game were Senior Gage Hindel, Juniors Flarey and Holdsworth, Sophomores Blake Spencer, Chance Storer, and Ty Young, as well as Freshmen Lewis Mozena and Jake Pratt.
The Scotties have a week off, which they need after 6 games in 13 days. Tri-Valley, now 7-1-1 (4-1 MVL) will host the New Lex Panthers 1-6 (1-4 MVL) on Tuesday, September 19 with a Varsity only game at 5:30 pm.