Trinity Lutheran’s boys soccer team scored six goals in the second half to break open a close match against Austin for a 10-4 victory at home Tuesday afternoon.
Trent Shoemaker led the Cougars by scoring two goals in the first half and three in the second half. He also dded two assists.
AJ Goecker had three goals, and Kash Siefker and Ricky Colon-Castro rounded out the scoring with a goal apiece.
Sawyer Doggett and Kevin Cho both assisted on two goals and Micah Baumgartel added one assist.
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Cougars coach Joe Doggett said being in the right place at the right time was a key to the win.
“Mainly, we found our positions and stayed in our positions,” he said. “By keeping our defense strong it opened up our offense more.”
The Cougars attempted 39 shots while the Eagles had 10.
Trinity started attacking the goal early and had four solid attempts before Shoemaker scored his first goal at 30:26 of the first half.
Shoemaker added his second goal at 23:48. The Austin keeper had his hands on the ball but couldn’t control it and the score was 2-0.
Josiah Foster had a chance to give the Cougars a 3-0 lead with a penalty kick at 19:10 but his kick hit the cross bar.
The Eagles scored at the 15-minute mark, but Goecker quickly got that goal back for the Cougars at 14:48.
Coach Doggett said the Cougars lost some of their intensity after getting the early lead.
“We got the lead early and then we got real sloppy,” he said. “Sometimes that’s a way for people to stop paying attention and forget what they’re doing. I got on them pretty heavily and told them in the second half to stay in their positions and we were a much better team, mostly in passing and the fundamentals, and we played better.”
Trinity had two goals nullified late in the first half because of being offsides before Austin closed the difference to 3-2.
Colon-Castro scored at 5:09 to push the Cougars’ lead to 4-2 and Austin again scored one minute later.
Coach Doggett said he felt like his team should have had a larger lead at the half because of the two off-sides goals, and the missed other opportunities to score.
“We had some good strikers and we had some good field guys and we certainly made some nice touches on the ball. Austin is a big team, but also what’s happened to us is we play teams with a lot more subs.
“Our team and our seniors, we’re in excellent shape. We have kids that can play the whole game and not be worn out.”
After both teams missed shots during the first six minutes of the second half, Shoemaker scored at 33:32, and Siefker followed at 29:52 and the Cougars held a 7-3 advantage.
Shoemaker added two goals 17 minutes apart, with the final coming at 5:35.
Between those scores, Goecker scored his final goal with a header off a corner kick at 16:09.
“We play aggressive, that’s kind of our game because we can’t afford to sit back. We have to play aggressive and we have to take what they give us,” Goecker said. “Our defense, again, looked much better because we stayed in position.”
Brayden Stockelman was in goal in the first half and Nathan Thompson was in goal the second half for the Cougars, and Doggett said, “Both of them did really well.”
Trinity (1-3) will host Oldenburg Academy Monday.