Greencastle routs Mounties 7-2

Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Sonney Basham scored three goals for the Tiger Cubs against Southmont Tuesday.

Greencastle's boys' soccer squad combined ball control with a little bit of patience Tuesday night in order to bag a 7-2 win over visiting Southmont at Dee Monnett Field.

Possession was the name of the game for 1A No. 9 ranked Greencastle. The hosts dominated in that category as, at times, the visiting Mounties were restricted to their own half of the field for large chunks of the game.

It would take twenty five minutes, though, before the Tiger Cubs were finally able to break the Southmont defense down. A corner taken by Evan Smith fell to Mitchell Ball, who slammed a shot past goalkeeper Daniel McCormick to give the hosts a 1-0 lead.

That lead lasted three minutes before Ball would turn provider at the wrong end. A missed clearance allowed Mountie forward Cody Thomas a rare shot on goal, one he buried to nod the game at 1-1.

Sonney Basham restored the lead and then some within a thirty second timespan. On a quick break, Basham took a pass from Sam Sloan before scoring past McCormick.

Once play restarted, the ball found its way back to Basham, who beat several defenders before burying a second goal by McCormick to give the hosts some breathing space entering halftime.

Little changed in the second half, with Greencastle holding possession and Southmont sitting deep in their own half. It took a picture perfect free kick from Brandon Query twelve minutes into the half to get things started again. Query, from twenty-five yards out and to McCormick's right, nestled the ball in the opposite top corner with McCormick standing and watching.

Up 4-1, Greencastle made several threatening moves into Mountie territory which finally resulted in three goals in six minutes.

Basham completed his hat-trick after Smith slid him the ball in front of the defense. The senior forward feinted twice before blasting past McCormick for the fifth Tiger Cub goal.

Query then drew a penalty two minutes later after stealing possession from a Mountie player who had just come into the game. Query called freshman Cameron Hinton to take the spot-kick, who placed it to the right and underneath a diving McCormick to up the lead to 6-1.

Sedrick Weinschenk would get tally number seven after a wicked deflection. A clearance popped up into mid-air first came off a Mountie defender before Weinschenk's leg sent the ball just inside McCormick's right hand post.

Southmont did grab a late consolation goal but did not score it as a ball sent into the Greencastle penalty area was instead knocked in by one of the Tiger Cub defenders.

The goal didn't do too much to damper the hosts' spirits at the final whistle, nor did it do much to distract head coach Dave Lilly from his squads' performance.

"Early on, we possessed the ball so well that they didn't have anyone playing forward anymore, so they had almost all eleven guys inside the eighteen," Lilly said.

"We had four nice corner kicks in the first half, but nobody got on the end of them. We finally moved Mitchell Ball up from the sweeper position and he got on one and finished it. Unfortunately, we gave (a goal) right back to them."

In both halves, Greencastle's possession of the ball made it difficult for Southmont to do anything but defend, but Lilly said that presented a challenge in itself.

"Once we got a little more separation, in terms of space to play with, we had all kinds of opportunities. It just comes with being patient against a team that you can control the ball against," Lilly said.

"Possession is the name of the game. If you have the ball and can win space and put multiple touches together, scoring opportunities come when you maintain that space and draw them out."

"We were clearly the better team tonight. It's somewhat disappointing that they got a couple of goals off of us tonight. But a win is always nice," Lilly added.

Greencastle's upcoming schedule sees them take to the road for the next four contests and five of the last seven, with a chance to claim at least a share of the WCC title Thursday.

"We're in the middle of our schedule. We go to North Putnam Thursday and it might be a similar game, one where we can possess the ball but need to be patient so they don't get into the penalty area and make it difficult to score."

At Greencastle

Southmont 1 1 -- 2

Greencastle 3 4 -- 7

Scoring

First half

GHS -- 14:32 Ball (1-0)

SM -- 11:53 Thomas (1-1)

GHS -- 9:23 Basham (2-1)

GHS -- 9:05 Basham (3-1)

Second Half

GHS -- 28:05 Query (4-1)

GHS -- 15:25 Basham (5-1)

GHS -- 13:16 Hinton (pen) (6-1)

GHS -- 9:53 Weinschenk (7-1)

SM -- 1:08 Greencastle OG (7-2)

Next Game -- Greencastle travels to North Putnam Thursday.