A late Whiteland goal Saturday afternoon soured what otherwise was a sweet week for Seymour’s boys soccer team.
The Warriors scored with just 12 minutes remaining to defeat Seymour 1-0, cutting short the Owls’ incipient two-game winning streak. Seymour opened the season with three lossesbut rebounded with wins over Silver Creek and Bloomington North during the past week.
Nearly 70 minutes into Saturday’s game, Seymour appeared headed, at worst, to a draw in a game that featured a 10-4 shot advantage for the Owls.
The game changed, however, when Whiteland was awarded a free kick deep in Seymour territory. Warrior midfielder Will Cooprider received the kick near the Owls’ end line, worked the ball into the penalty box and sent a pass across the mouth of the goal that striker Braden Hall redirected into the net.
Unable to answer Whiteland’s goal, Seymour saw its record drop to 2-4. The Warriors, meanwhile, heartily celebrated their first win of the season.
“Thursday was progress. Today was a step back,” Seymour head coach Matt Dennis said. “We got a couple of wins and thought today would be a breeze, and it wasn’t. We’ve got to compete better than we did today. We’ve got to find our heart. We’ve got to make sure that we compete every single day.”
Seymour’s defense again provided a strong showing, allowing only one harmless shot in the first half. But Whiteland started finding cracks in the Owls’ back line midway through the second half, most dramatically with 18 minutes left when striker J.D. Lompo broke through and sent a shot from point-blank range, which Seymour goalie Will Smith ably knocked away.
The Owls’ best chance came with 29 minutes remaining in the game when junior Logan Westfall’s shot from 25 yards smacked the left post but bounded away before Westfall’s teammates could take advantage.
Though Seymour more than doubled Whiteland’s shots on goal, eight of the Owls’ 10 attempts were launched from beyond the 18-yard line.
“We outshot them, but many of our shots weren’t threatening,” Dennis said. “We didn’t take good enough care of the ball to get into position to take good shots. That’s the next logical progression, to put ourselves in position where we can get successful attempts on goal.”
Dennis and the Owls don’t have much time to dwell on Saturday’s disappointing result. The coming week presents another three games, including Hoosier Hills Conference matches at Jeffersonville (Tuesday) and at Columbus East (Thursday).
“We’ve got our first conference game on Tuesday, and it’s incredibly important,” Dennis said. “We need to make sure we step on to the field and win that game.”