Trinity Lutheran’s Andrew Lemming tries to prevent Salem’s Nathaniel Henry from advancing the ball in the first half of their match Monday. Lemming scored Trinity’s lone goal in a 3-1 loss.
Arv Koontz | The Tribune
Trinity Lutheran’s Bryson Baker tries to keep the ball away from Salem’s Nathaniel Henry during Monday’s match on the Cougars’ field.
Arv Koontz | The Tribune
Trinity Lutheran junior Kade Gillaspy advances the ball against Salem during Monday’s match.
Arv Koontz | The Tribune
Senior Jonny Tally scored two goals in the first half and added an insurance goal in the second half to lift Salem to a 3-1 win over Trinity Lutheran in boys soccer action on the Cougars’ field Monday night.
Trinity coach Todd Jack said he felt like the Cougars should have had a 1-0 lead 7 minutes into the match, but the official on the field denied the score.
“It’s in no way a dictator of the entirety of the game, but there was a goal that the official missed at the beginning of the game,” Jack said.
The play Jack was talking about came when Kade Gillaspy had a hard strike at the net that Lions goalie Josh Burton stopped with 33 minutes left in the first half.
“The assistant coach for Salem told me he saw it hit the net, so we have ample eyes saying that the ball went in, but the referee was not in position to call it,” said. It hit the crossbar, dinged off the ground, then bounced out. To me, it was at a clear angle, and the goalkeeper looked like he was in the goal. That was supposed to be the first goal of the night, and it was taken away from the young man. He earned it, and it was the opening goal of the night.”
At that point, he said his boys stopped playing.
“And you can’t stop playing. Even though there is a bad call, you can’t stop playing, and within 45 seconds, there was a goal on the board for the other team,” Jack said. “It took the wind out of our sails, and we were never able to get back on course.”
The Lions moved the ball to their end of the field, and Tally made it a 1-0 score at 32:16. The Cougars came back, and Andrew Lemming tied the score with a goal with 17:51 left in the first half.
Tally then put the Lions ahead for good with 3:41 left in the half. Then he scored off a free kick with 30:15 of the second half to complete the scoring.
“You can always lay it up to a few things, but ultimately, we just got outplayed a little bit,” Jack said. “We did fine at midfield at times, but it wasn’t consistent enough, and with a team that is going to be knocking at your door all night like this Salem team was, it’s not enough to just be in it for some of the game.
“You have to play from the first whistle to the last whistle, and I feel we got caught watching a lot tonight,” he said. “We have a lot of talent on our team, and because we have a lot of talent on our team, we can do a lot of skillful things, but in doing that, I find us being spectators more than teammates.”
Peyton Pollert had six saves in goal for Trinity.
“He does a good job,” Jack said. “Every now and then, there are a few miscommunications, but I have a young back line. I have sophomores in my back line. They’re still learning on the fly. They have a lot of experience, but they have a lot to learn, as well.”
The Cougars (3-6) will face Lanesville at 11 a.m. Saturday in the Scottsburg Invitational.
The Warriors will face Clarksville at 9 a.m. with the first-round losers playing for third place at 1:30 p.m. and the championship match to follow.