By Murray Gleffe,
Correspondent
DE PERE- The West De Pere Phantoms defeated the Ashwaubenon Jaguars by a final of 10-4 in a non-conference boys’ soccer game. (Sept. 10)
Garrett Schneider and Alex Woulf each scored two goals and Schneider added two assists for the Phantoms who outshot the Jaguars by a total of 27-9.
Alex Vaughn made five saves in goal.
“Alex is a good goalie,” said Tod Maki, West De Pere soccer coach. “I was proud of the way he handled everything to the left and right of him. We still need him to be confident with high shots but did make a couple of those saves tonight.”
With 14 goals scored in the 90-minute game, there was no time to look away from the action.
Just five minutes in, the Phantoms were turned away twice by Jaguars goaltender Nick Percy in front of the goal, but Abram McGrath got West De Pere on the board first after he went up and over Percy to give the Phantoms an early 1-0 lead.
The Jaguars received their first look in the ninth minute when midfielder Kaleb Coble got a left footed shot in from 23 yards out. Vaughn made the diving save to protect the one goal lead.
In the 17th minute, the Phantoms struck again with a goal by Schneider after he got away from his defender.
Midway through half number one, the Jaguars battled back after a West De Pere Phantoms forward got whistled for a hand ball in the restricted area.
The Jaguars Kevin Garcia-Espinoza took the free kick and found the right part of the net to pull Ashwaubenon within one goal at 2-1.
“Ashwaubenon has a lot of speed on their team,” Maki said. “Our back line had to be alert at all times on the perimeter.”
It was short-lived, however, as the Phantoms tallied their third and fourth goals by the 28th minute to put them out in front 4-1.
Just before halftime, the Jaguars received a free kick after a Phantoms foul.
Luke Hansford laced a 41-yard shot that curved from right to left over the stationary Phantoms defenders that found the top right part of the net.
The Phantoms took the 4-2 margin into the break.
In the second half, the Jaguars had a golden opportunity to cut the margin to one after Aidan Christensen sent a booming shot in on goal. Vaughn happened to be right where the shot was made and tapped the ball out of play.
With just 31 minutes left in the contest, and the Phantoms holding a precarious two goal lead, they unleashed their offensive skills.
From the 59th minute to the 64th minute, the Phantoms ripped off four goals (Sawyer Grovogel, Schneider, Woulf, Julian Barajas) after they consistently got behind the Jaguars defenders.
After the dust had settled, the Phantoms had taken an 8-2 lead.
“I thought our forwards did a much better job in the second half of getting behind their defenders,” said Maki. “We talked about that at halftime and it payed off with a number of goals in succession.”
The margin enabled each team to substitute freely down the stretch.
Each team tacked on two additional goals to provide the final margin.
“It keeps people’s attention in the stands when that many goals are scored,” said Maki. “From a personal standpoint, I like it when we have a three goal or more advantage which we got a couple of times in each half before we put the game away late.”
The Phantoms improve to 3-1 on the year and will host Seymour Tuesday evening at West De Pere High School.
Box Score:
West De Pere- 4, 6 10
Ashwaubenon- 2, 2 4
