Heading into Tuesday night’s contest with Meade, Broadneck coach Sean Tettemer knew his squad would have to get off to a quick start.
The Bruins wasted little time, scoring three first-half goals on their way to a 4-2 win over the Mustangs in boys soccer.
“Getting off to a good start has definitely been one of our points because we struggled with that earlier,” Tettemer said. “We had to make sure we came out really strong and really fast tonight because we knew (Meade) would be up for it.”
Bryce Ziemer got Broadneck (3-3-1) on the board 10 minutes into the contest when he battled for a ball near the right corner of his offensive zone, won it and sent an arching shot into the upper-left corner of the net.
Meade (6-1) looked to score an equalizer less than five minutes later, but after a loose ball rolled toward the Broadneck goal, Bruins’ defender Trevor Wiggins swooped in and kicked the ball out of bounds wide of the net.
With just over 14 minutes remaining in the half, John Torres snuck a through ball by the Meade defense and Eric Hertel ran onto it into the penalty box and blasted it into the lower-right corner to give Broadneck a 2-0 lead. Samuel Shoemaker followed up with the Bruins’ third goal, as he blasted a shot that ricocheted of a Meade defender into the goal.
“We played as a team and didn’t stop going forward,” Hertel said. “We defended well, but we never stopped driving at the goal.”
Though Broadneck took a three-goal lead into the second half, Tettemer let his team know Meade was capable of mounting a comeback. And, just as a driving rain increased in intensity, so did the Mustangs’ offense.
Keelan Fedison dribbled in from the left corner of the penalty box, made a cut outside and buried a shot into the upper-right corner of the net to put Meade on the board with just over 33 minutes remaining. Samuel Solomon followed at the 18-minute mark when he corralled a loose ball in the penalty box and fired it into the lower-left corner to cut the deficit to 3-2.
“I think we made a couple of tactical changes,” Meade coach Mike Banach said. “I think they just beat us physically in the first half, and we adjusted to that and we started moving the ball around, and I think the second half was a lot better.”
Meade came within inches of scoring the equalizer less than a minute later, but Samuel Dupuy’s header hit the crossbar and Broadneck was able to clear.
“Meade is the type of team that can rattle off three goals in 15 minutes,” Tettemer said. “I told them this game is far from over. To their credit, they did exactly what I thought they would do. They battled right back and they made it a 3-2 game.”
Despite nursing a one-goal lead, Broadneck did not sit back on defense, instead the Bruins continued to mount an attack, and the aggressiveness paid off when Shoemaker won a 50-50 ball near the right sideline and dribbled toward the goal, sliding a pass through the penalty box where Hertel was able to rip it home for his second goal and a 4-2 Broadneck lead with less than 13 minutes to play.
“We were fortunate to be able to get another good finish to increase the lead,” Tettemer said. “A lot of credit to Meade to continue to battle. They’re an explosive team. They had me worried the entire match.”
Broadneck managed to hang on for the win, handing Meade its first loss of the season. Banach credited the Bruins’ fast start.
“They’re a hard working team and I think they outworked us the first half,” he said. “We made some adjustments in the second half and I thought we played a lot better, but unfortunately we just couldn’t make up for the slow start.”
The win was Broadneck’s third in the last five games after starting the season 0-2. Tettemer said the team is showing improvement from earlier on.
“We’re getting better and better,” he said. We’re trying to improve as the season goes along.”
| Broadneck (3-3-1) | 3 | 1 | — | 4 |
| Meade (6-1) | 0 | 2 | — | 2 |
GOALS: BN — Hertel 2, Ziemer, Shoemaker; ME — Fedison, Solomon. ASSISTS: BN — Torres, Shoemaker. SAVES: BN — Davis 4; ME — Castillo 6. SHOTS: BN — 10; ME — 12. CORNERS: BN — 1; ME — 6.
