Edwardsburg nips Vikings
Published 6:29 pm Sunday, September 18, 2011
There was an unlikely offensive standout for the Edwardsburg boys soccer team in its match Saturday against Niles.
Senior Josh Clark scored for only the third time in his career and for the first time this year as the Eddies beat the Vikings, 1-0.
With 43 seconds left in the first half, Clark scored off a shot from teammate Andrew Gnott that deflected off a Niles defender.
“Gnott played a ball in, it hit off a guy and it came right to my feet,” said Clark. “It was pretty well set up. It feels great to score.”
“Josh Clark is very talented,” said Edwardsburg coach Ryan Rosenkranz, whose team improved to 2-8. “You can put him anywhere on the field and he’s going to give you 100-percent. He’s dangerous with the ball. We’ve toyed with him playing forward. He’s got that goal scoring ability. He’s also a sweeper that keeps us in games defensively.”
Edwardsburg turned to its defense to help Clark’s shot turn out to be the game-winner. Niles had only 10 shots on goal-four in the second half. Edwardsburg totaled 12 shots-four in the second half.
“Obviously, our record isn’t very good, but our turnaround started last Thursday when we played Marian (IN.) and we lost, 1-0,” Rosenkranz said. “I was very pleased with the way we played (against Marian). That was probably the happiest I’ve ever been after a loss. Our kids played very, very well in that last game. We practiced hard on Friday and came out here (against Niles) and played a great 80 minutes. Hopefully, things are starting to click for us. We’re playing with more intensity in practice and that’s carrying over into games.”
Niles coach Jerry Holtgren wasn’t as upbeat about his team after the loss.
“We didn’t have many scoring opportunites and (Edwardsburg) didn’t have many either,” said Holtgren, whose team fell to 5-5. “They took advantage of one of their few chances and we didn’t take advantage of any of ours. We played with a little bit more intensity in the second half, but this is probably the most disappointed that I’ve been all year. We just played very poorly. We didn’t show up.”
Niles’ last shot on goal in the match came with 7:50 remaining when Cole Krassow tried to score from 15 yards. The shot would be stopped by Edwardsburg goalie Patrick Harvey. Harvey finished with three saves.
“Our defense was solid,” Rosenkranz said. “I rarely subbed my guys in the back. They’ve been a unit for awhile. Ben Getz had been a starter for the last two to three years and (Zac) Freshour is doing a great job for us defensively. Our midfielders are playing great defense as well. Patrick Harvey is back there in his first year as a keeper and he’s getting better and better each game he gets in.”
Edwardsburg…1
Niles…0
Halftime score
Edwardsburg 1, Niles 0
First half
E – Josh Clark 1st minute (Andrew Gnott assist).
Shots on goal
Edwardsburg 12, Niles 10.
Saves
Patrick Harvey (E) 3, Derek Arguello (N) 4, Ryan Casey (N) 2.
Corner kicks
Edwardsburg 1, Niles 5.
Varsity records
Edwardsburg 2-8, Niles 5-5.