Braves soccer team loses one, salvages tie

 

April 21, 2021

SENIORITY IS VALUED – La Conner Braves senior soccer players enjoyed their moment in the sun Thursday afternoon at Whittaker Field. Shown from left are: Andre Knudson, Isaiah Adams, Elijah Porter, and Charles Baker. All play key roles for the Braves, who sport a win, one loss, and a tie in their first three matches – Photo by Bill Reynolds

The La Conner High boys’ soccer team battled a stiff headwind at Whittaker Field last Tuesday.

The Braves also dueled with a physical and veteran Mount Vernon Christian Hurricanes club that broke a scoreless tie with a pair of wind-aided second half goals, the latter of which came in the final minute of the contest.

MVC recorded the tidy 2-0 victory on a beautiful sunlit but gusty afternoon.

Coming off a season opening shutout win over Cedar Park Christian, La Conner was unable to take advantage of the wind in the first half. The Braves nearly scored twice but shot attempts by Cameron Burks and Christian Fix were saved by the MVC goalkeeper.

The wind proved more friendly to the Hurricanes when the teams switched sides after halftime.

Nathan Schmaus delivered a penalty kick at the 32:15 mark of the second stanza to lift the visitors into a 1-0 lead.

That is how matters stood – despite a handful of nearly successful La Conner attacks – until MVC’s Julian Pedrosa added an insurance goal on a breakaway just seconds before the final whistle.

The winds of fortune were kinder to the Braves when they returned two days later to Whittaker Field, where Charles Baker scored the tying goal 10 minutes into the second half of what ended as a 1-1 draw in overtime with Grace Academy.

The hosts suffered through a flat offensive performance in the first half but made up for it after the break. In addition to Baker’s goal Andre Knudson, Christian Fix, Manny Lopez and Cameron Burks all nearly scored in the second half as La Conner significantly picked up the pace and attacked the Hurricane side of the pitch.

La Conner head coach Galen McKnight made several adjustments at halftime. Perhaps most important was he stressed the need for his club to communicate more on defense.

"I look at this group,” he said in a team huddle, “and there’s not a lot of loud people. But it’s okay to be loud out here. You’ve got to yell.”

La Conner goalkeeper Elijah Porter kept his team in the contest throughout, recording key saves and flipping field position with long kicks from deep in Braves’ territory.

With the score tied 1-1 at the end of regulation, the teams squared off in a five-minute extra session. Porter thwarted one Grace Academy shot attempt, while a Cameron Burks game-winning attempt sailed over the net. Other than that, the play was pretty much at midfield.

La Conner (1-1-1) is scheduled to resume action today at Providence Classical Christian School in Bothell. The match is set to get under way at 3:30 p.m.

 

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