Saturday the Sailors Men’s Soccer team traveled to the front range to take on Mullen High School in the first game of the season. Going in the Sailors knew it was going to be a tough first game. The Mullen Mustangs proved them right, scoring just 15 seconds into the game off a ball misplayed by the Sailors defense. Just 60 seconds later the Mustangs were able to put another ball in the back of the net, making it 2-0 Mustangs in the fist 76 seconds of the game.
The Sailors had their work cut out for them. The tides seemed to be turning after Murphy Bohlmann was taken down inside the box, awarding the Sailors a Penalty Kick. Senior Cruz Archuleta stepped up and buried the ball in the back of the net to pull the Sailors to within one goal. The next 30 minutes saw the Sailors pepper the goal with 7 shots but none were able to find their way into the goal and the teams went into halftime 2-1.
The second have started fast again for the Mustangs as they scored 4 minutes into the second half to bring the score to 3-1 and put the Sailors on their heals once again. 5 minutes later Senior Ross VanHara answered back with a header into the next off an assist by Freshman Marat Washburn. At 3-2 the game seemed evenly matched for both teams. That was until the 67th minute, when the Mustangs were able to score off a set play, which opened a flood of scoring, seeing 3 more goals happen in the next 5 minutes, including a Sailor own goal, a Mullen PK and a second goal for VanHara. When the dust settled in the 74th minute the game was at 7-3 for the Mustangs, and out of reach for the Sailors.
“The final score really didn’t show how well we played today, ” said Senior Goalkeeper Andrew McCawley. His coach, Rob Bohlmann agreed. “It was a good hard test early in the season for the team. They stood tall and can be proud of the effort they put in today. We have some work to do before Tuesday but the final score really didn’t show how well we played today.”
His coach, Rob Bohlmann agreed. “It was a good hard test early in the season for the team. They stood tall and can be proud of the effort they put in today. We have some work to do before Tuesday but the final score really didn’t show how well we played today.”
The Sailors will return to action Tuesday night for their home opener against Moffat County. Game starts at 7pm under the lights at Gardner field.