By SPENCER BATES
SALAMANCA — Tallying its second-biggest win of the season, the Portville boys soccer team rolled past Salamanca 6-0.
For the Panthers, it was their sixth win over the course of their last seven games as they look to carry momentum into the latter half of the regular season.
However, it was not all smooth sailing. Despite Conner Roulo having scored the opening goal of the contest in under one minute, coach J.J. McIntosh’s side was unable to build on the early energy.
“It was a lot of us beating ourselves,” McIntosh said. “(Salamanca) did a nice job of putting some pressure on us. They had numbers through the middle, and we kept trying to attack where all the numbers were. Eventually we decided that we should probably keep the ball at our feet a little bit more, stop trying to make things so difficult and work it around a little bit more. Not too often you have a half time speech that is just as simple as ‘play better soccer.’ … It wasn’t too much of the X’s and O’s, it was just that we got to clean it up a lot.”
Communication was a big point that McIntosh stressed to his players throughout the game. Especially in the early minutes, he noted there was little conversation happening amongst his players before a move had broken down.
“I could say that in almost every game, we’re trying to get these kids to talk to each other when it’s not just ‘I want the ball’ and be a collective unit,” McIntosh said. “That’s definitely part of it, they’re getting in each other’s way at times as well.”
Another note that McIntosh had for his team is that they need to bring the same level of intensity and determination to each and every game. He saw what his team is capable of after they fought tooth and nail against a strong Randolph team last time out and now needs to see that on a night-in, night-out basis.
“We’ve done it a few times where I think that we didn’t come out with the intensity that we needed,” McIntosh said. “We’re just coming off a pretty intense, emotional, physical battle with Randolph and then we come here, and I think that at certain points, we were lacking effort.”
Ultimately, the Panthers were able to run up the score with two goals apiece from midfield talisman Colin German and Luke Edwards and a Warriors own goal.
Still, Salamanca coach Marra Stokes admitted she was happy with the level of fight she saw from her team in the defeat.
“The boys were playing aggressively the entire time,” Stokes said. “Last year, this team beat us 15-0. Our goal was to keep it way under that. … We had a great halftime talk, everybody stayed positive. … We played aggressively and just worked hard for 80 minutes.”
Salamanca’s Easton Chudy (3) sends a free kick towards the Portville penalty area. (Spencer Bates)
Of course, there is still room for improvement as Stokes said that she wants to see her defense more composed in the immediate aftermath of stopping an attack. Instead of just booting the ball down field, alleviating danger immediately, she wants to see connections made and play built up through the midfield.
“There’s always room for improvement,” Stokes said. “These are things that we cover every day in drills, and they’re getting it. It’s just going to take a little bit more time, but they’re getting it.”
Ultimately, for Portville, it is another step in the right direction. Reflecting on what he saw from his team at the start of the season, McIntosh admitted he knew his team were capable of playing at this level regularly. But also said that now is not the time to get comfortable with an important stretch of league games on the near horizon.
“I thought our first game, when we played Genesee Valley/Belfast in the Gator Cup, we thought that ‘if this was the first game, there’s a pretty high ceiling for this team,’” McIntosh said. “It seemed that the intensity wasn’t quite there for a few of our games and now it seems like, over these last couple games, we’re starting to hit our stride. … Hopefully we can just keep building off what we’ve been doing and keep working to improve. That’s really all we can try to do.”
Up next for Portville is its final non-league clash of the regular season, a home fixture against Olean on Sept. 27 at 11 a.m.
Meanwhile, Salamanca will hit the road to face Cassadaga Valley-Falconer for its next game on Sept. 30 at 4:30 p.m.
