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Burlington Central, Huntley settle for draw
Updated: August 22, 2011 10:27PM
BURLINGTON — As might be expected, Huntley coach Kris Grabner and Burlington Central coach Michael Gecan came away with mixed feelings after the two clubs battled to a 1-1 tie in the season opener on Monday.
Overall the outlook was positive, but both coaches indicated an urgency to get back to the practice field to work on a few more things.
“I thought we played good soccer, especially in the first half,” said Grabner. “I think our biggest issue right now is our fitness. We kind of wore down and got tired in the second half. That’s something we are definitely going to have to work on.”
The to-do list was a little longer for Gecan’s Rockets.
“I liked the way we battled,” said Gecan. “But we set four goals and really only accomplished one of them at that was going hard after the ball on defense. The others were communicate, attacking the first 10 minutes and quicker restarts. Those are all things we still need to work on.
“Our first touch was also not there tonight. It got a little better in the second half, but we need to control the ball better.”
Huntley dominated most of the first half. The Red Raiders took the first six shots of the contest and had a 10-4 overall shot advantage in the first half.
However, it wasn’t until 21 seconds before halftime that Huntley was finally able to cash in. Ironically, it came moments after Central had it’s best scoring opportunity of the half.
With just over a minute to play in the half, Huntley goalie Austin Emery made a sprawling save on a point blank shot from Josh Lung after he mishandled a crossing pass in front of the net. Seconds later Emery made another diving save off a shot from Chris Gousios that was headed for the lower left corner.
The Red Raiders recovered and reversed field. Danny Diaz de Leon popped a pass from midfield up and over the Central defense to Scott Dorvilier, who drew Central goalie Riley Jensen out with a quick fake to his left and then switched directions to sneak a shot in on the right side.
“We work hard in practice on playing fast soccer,” said Grabner. “And I thought tonight the work rate of our forwards was insane in the first half. They were getting after it non-stop. That was great to see.”
Central finally picked up the pace in the second half and was able to even the score with 21:41 left on a goal by Lung.
Matt O’Connor set up the play with a midfield pass over the Huntley defense into the right corner that found Paulo Suspene. From there Suspene made a perfect crossing pass to Lung, who’s first shot glanced off the Emery. Lung quickly controlled the rebound to score the game-tying goal.
“The second half we did a better job of controlling the ball,” said Gecan. “Our forwards Josh and Chris stepped up there game. And I thought Matt did a nice job in the midfield. Josh did a good job of being aggressive in the box on his goal.”
Jensen had eight saves in goal for Central and Emery had five saves.
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