In their final regular season match, Seymour’s boys soccer team planned on honoring their seniors with a win on its home turf.
The Owls (12-3-1, 4-2-1 HHC) left no room for doubt, defeating Hoosier Hills Conference foe Bedford North Lawrence 5-0 on Thursday.
“I thought we executed our gameplan really, really well,” Owls coach Matt Dennis said. “It was just good to see the boys have a lot of fun out of there.”
Just one minute, 11 seconds into the game Charlie Galyen crossed the ball to the center of the field — 24 yards out –and Daniel Hartman slammed a one-touch shot to the far post to put the Owls up 1-0.
The Owls added another goal with 31:54 on the clock when Blaine Spivey dribbled to the back line, and flicked the ball back to Galyen. Galyen met little resistance as he buried the ball in the ball in the back of the net.
Hartman added another score at the 11:40-mark, as he banked a left-footed shot off the far post from 12-yards, to put the Owls up 3-0.
Out of the break, Hartman kept firing along with the rest of the Owls’ offense.
With 37:44 on the clock, Hartman took a through ball up the middle from Carter wait and rifled a shot to extend the Owls’ lead to 4-0.
Off a corner kick, the Stars accidentally deflected the ball into the back of their own net to give the Owls a 5-0 advantage with 27:41 left.
The Owls were able to empty their bench and control possession as the clock continued to run.
Seymour outshot Bedford 25-7, and Elliott Clark collected three saves in goal.
Hartman now has 26 goals on the season, just three short of tying the school record for the boys’ program.
Prior to the match, the Owls honored their seniors: Clark, Galyen, Zach Moore, Brayan Morales, Ethan Greene and Carter Wait.
“(The seniors) have a lot of wins compared to the other senior classes out there,” Dennis said. “It’s really nice to coach these kids. They’re tremendous athletes, but more importantly tremendous human beings. These are all great kids, which makes coaching fun. When they get rewarded for doing the right thing, it’s just great to see them succeed. I can’t speak highly enough about them.”
The Owls, who will host the sectional, play Jeffersonville at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the first round of the tournament.
“We will prepare for Jeff — it was a hard 3-2 win, but it was seven weeks ago,” Dennis said. “I think we have all the tools (to win) if we execute like we did tonight. We just need to take it one game at a time, as cliche as it is to say. We ended on a high note, but we need to make sure that feeling lingers and we use it as a springboard.”