BUCHANAN — Buchanan soccer goalies Cade Vargo and Blake Graber combined for more goals (2) than saves (1) in Monday’s Lakeland Conference match against Brandywine. The Bucks turned shots into goals after a slow start in a 6-0 win over the Bobcats.

Eventually, on its 16th shot in the first half, Buchanan scored on a header from Graber on an assist from Dylan Williamson with 13:49 left in the first half. The shot came right in front of the goal.

“Big sense of relief, just because of the fact that we struggle leaving teams in games,” said Buchanan coach Brian Pruett about the importance of scoring first. “It takes pressure off of guys and they can have fun. When we have fun we play so much better.”

The Bucks gained even more momentum going into halftime when A.J. Reed scored with 28 seconds left in the first half. Reed followed up his own shot, that a few seconds earlier, had hit the right post.

“That’s a killer,” said Brandywine coach Evan Winkler about Buchanan’s second goal. “Anytime you get scored on in the last minute in a half it’s really tough mentally. It’s a lot nicer being down 1-0 at halftime instead 2-0. It seems that the hill is not as hard to climb.”

Buchanan, which had 24 shots the first half, added 20 more in the second half with more success finishing. Kevin Dey scored on an assist from Graber with 30:40 left in the second half. A little over a minute later Dey scored again to give the Bucks a 4-0 lead. Both goals were scored from less than five yards.

“The second half was very disappointing,” Winkler said. “I know we can play better. Buchanan is a very good team and they finally started putting (shots) in and finishing.”

Buchanan’s final two goals came from Evan Cordero and Vargo. Vargo was taken out of goal with 10 minutes left in the match and replaced by Graber, who got a save.

Pruett, who’s in his seventh-year as the Buchanan boys soccer coach, was asked if he ever had two goalies in a match also score a goal.

“Never had that before,” Pruett said. “But, when we get the opportunity, we’ll pull Cade out of goal because he’s a very skilled player. He showed that ability tonight when he facilitated with the ball when he got his free kick goal. That shows how whole he is as a player.

“It was big for Graber to get that first goal. He’s always in the right spot. He’s just been struggling to put the ball in. We had a great cross and (Graber) was right there. We’ve been preaching to crash the goal and those first two goals were off crashing.”

Brandywine goalie Brock Hartline played well against an aggressive Buchanan offense. Hartline finished with 21 saves.

“I thought Brock played great, especially in the first half,” Winkler said. “It easily could have been 5-0 in the first half. Brock kept us in it. He kept making big save after big save. We were having breakdowns on defense and it seemed like we were lackadaisical.”

“Their goalie did a great job,” Pruett said. “He made saves on shots that we had scored goals on during the year.”

Brandywine, which had only three shots, all from Zachary Schmidt, played without five starters.

“Health-wise we’re still hurting,” Winkler said. “We’re hoping to get two of those guys back before the end of the season. That would be really nice.”

 

Brandywine…0

Buchanan…6

Halftime score

Buchanan 2, Brandywine 0

 

First half

BU – Blake Graber (Dylan Williamson) 13:49

BU – A.J. Reed :28

 

Second half

BU – Kevin Dey (Graber) 30:40

BU – Graber 29:13

BU – Evan Cordero 20:15

BU – Cade Vargo 13:20

 

Shots on goal

Brandywine 3

Buchanan 44

 

Saves

Buchanan 1 (Cade Vargo, Blake Graber)

Brandywine 21 (Brock Hartline)

 

Corner kicks

Brandywine 2

Buchanan 8

 

Records

Buchanan 6-8-1, 2-0 Lakeland Conference; Brandywine 4-9-1, 1-2 Lakeland Conference