Lilly hat trick leads GHS past Northview

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

BRAZIL -- The Greencastle boy's varsity soccer team improved their season record to 6-2 Saturday afternoon, posting a victory over Northview.

The Tiger Cubs dominated play from the start, just missing on several scoring chances in the opening minutes of play.

The Knights would score first, however, when Logan Lynch knocked the ball out of Greencastle keeper Ryan Payne's hands on a corner kick late in the half. Northview held the 1-0 advantage over Greencastle at the end of the period.

"We could have easily been ahead 4-0 in the first five minutes of the game. It's disappointing that we ended up down a goal at the break because other than the score, we outplayed them in every way, " GHS coach Dave Lilly said. "Soccer can be like that sometimes though. We have talked a lot this year about capitalizing on our scoring opportunities and extending our lead beyond one goal. Otherwise you are only one mistake or one missed call away from an unfavorable result."

Greg Lilly

The second half started out much the same as the first, except this time the Tiger Cubs would indeed capitalize on their dominating play. Greg Lilly scored off a Pat Martin assist with less than two minutes played and the score was tied 1-1.

With 30:06 to play in the game, Eric Davis delivered a crossing ball that Lilly was able to head into the goal and Greencastle took the lead 2-1.

The Tiger Cubs kept pressure on the Knights' midfield and were able to keep the ball in their attacking end for most of the second half. Greencastle was awarded a free kick about 25-30 yards out following a Northview foul, and with 27:29 remaining, Pat Martin fired a shot just inside the post to increase the Cubs' lead to 3-1.

The Cubs had several more chances to score, but their shots hit the crossbar, were blocked by the Knight's keeper, or just missed.

With 14:02 left to play, Lynch was able to get past the Tiger Cubs back line and slip a shot past freshman keeper Kyle Parker, cutting the Greencastle lead to one.

The Knights played with a lot of intensity for the rest of the match, but the Tiger Cubs did not panic and continued to keep the ball in front of the Knights' goal.

Davis and Lilly connected for a second time on a nearly identical play, with Lilly heading in a crossing pass to put the Tiger Cubs ahead 4-2 with 5:28 on the clock. Neither team would score during the last five minutes.

The JV match was called off due to severe weather.

Greencastle travels to West Vigo to take on the Vikings at 5:30 p.m. today.

At Northview

Greencastle 0 4 -- 4

Northview 1 1 -- 2

Goals -- Lilly 3, Martin (GHS), Lynch 2 (Nv)

Assists -- Davis 2, Martin (GHS)

Next match -- GHS travels to West Vigo at 5:30 p.m. today.

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