By HUNTER O. LYLE
PORT ALLEGANY, PA – Already dealing with injuries, a compact schedule and plenty of minutes on the field, the Port Allegany boys soccer team dropped their third game of the season, losing to North Clarion 6-1.
The Gators’ season started on Friday and in the four days since, have played what accounts to almost three and a half games, counting Monday’s loss. First they took on Williamson, losing 3-0 in the season opener before facing a double-overtime 2-1 loss to Galeton on Saturday. Two days later, they were back on the pitch for a meeting with the Wolves.
“It’s been unbelievably difficult on the players. We have one boy who’s at basic training for the US army, we have one kid who played about 12 minutes for us before he pulled his hamstring, so we’re significantly down bodies and then we played 107 minutes on Saturday,” said new Port Allegany head coach Dan Schott. “The kids are hurting right now. They’re giving it what they’ve got but it’s come with significant challenges.”
The wear and tear was evident from the beginning. To begin the feeling out process, North Clarion dominated the ball in the midfield, plotting the ebbs and flows of Port’s advance. After the first few minutes passed, the Wolves began the attack, taking the first shot of the game in the third minute. Capitalizing on weak passes from the Gators, North Clarion remained on the offensive as they maintained control and set up shop in Port’s backfield.
Despite holding their opponents off with clustering defense, it would only be a matter of time until Port would give up an opportunity, which came in the 20th minute when a North Clarion striker broke through the pack and punched in the first goal of the game. Although Port would regain a footing on defense and even find a drive or two upfield, constant turnovers caused by errant passes gave way to frequent turnovers. In the final ten minutes, the Wolves would score two more times, taking a 3-0 advantage before halftime.
“I think that early on, we were not finding feet. Our execution was poor as far as finding possessions and then as the half went on, we did a little bit better with finding feet, a little bit better with driving possession and then we weren’t chasing as much,” said Schott. “Coming into the second half, we changed formation into a 4-3-3 just to open the game up. We tried to give ourselves a couple different lines so we could just pass, pass, pass the ball up.”
The scheme change during the break would pay off immediately. Less than a minute into the second half, with the Gators looking fully charged and reinvigorated, they found the back of the net. A leading pass upfield found Holden Nance, who rocketed in a goal to end the shutout. However, the new energy that the Gators had found was mirrored by North Clarion.
After just four and a half minutes, the Wolves had their response in the form of a successful penalty kick that went just right of Port’s goalkeeper, Jimmy Sneed. Building on their confidence the Wolves began peppering the net with constant waves of attacks that split the midfield and penetrated in close. A rebounded shot would score their fourth goal three minutes later while Port once again stalled out with a disorganized offense.
Both switching to their reserves as the clock wound down, they would each trade punches in the final minutes. North Clarion would score off another rebound in the 31st minute while Port’s Alex Schott showcased his handles, dangling downfield before punching in one final score with just 13 seconds left.
Moving forward, Port will enjoy one day’s rest before a road game against Ridgway on Wednesday, then earning a much-needed five-day break before coming back home to play Kane on Monday.
“The takeaway from today is that we get better every time out. We have a really young team. I have eight new players at the moment, so there’s eight players who have very little game experience,” said Schott. “Day in and day out, they’re going to get more game experience and you can see them start turning that corner.”
