Mullen Soccer Plays to a Draw in League Opener

The following Tuesday was the settled continuance date, and both teams hit the pitch ready to play and twenty-minutes into it.  With little time before the intermission and quality defense the heartbeat for both teams, it was logical that the remaining minutes to the half would remain scoreless which it did.   

 

Mullen made its intentions known from the onset of the second half play.  The resolve was to execute an offense and pressure the net more than what was done in the previous forty-minutes.  They did exactly what they set out to do.  The boys did a great job of establishing their spacing and finding the open man and sharing the ball once they were within striking range.  One of their best opportunities came at the 35:20 mark when sophomore Rocco Manerbino took a pass just left of the goal about 14 meters out and had clear sight to the back of the net.  He let it rip just missing the mark as the ball bounced off of the left upright.      

 

As the minutes ticked off the clock, it became more and more obvious that the game was going to come down to a single goal by either team as the difference in the match.  This made the next possession and all ensuing possessions grow in importance.  With two very fast teams, scoring windows were at a premium with not a lot of chances.  And so, the battle raged with each team doing what it could to get into scoring opportunities.  Grandview appeared to be in good shape at the 29:50 mark when they set up for a corner kick left of goal.  They were mistaken.  Mullen engulfed the kick with little chance by Grandview of making any kind of a play on goal.  The Wolves next great opportunity to establish something on the scoreboard came with 14:55 ticks left on the clock when they were handed a break-a-way.  As fast as they were on defense and as hard as they were trying to recover their position, the Mullen boys could not regain any defensive advantage, and it was ‘mano a mono’ between their threat and Mullen’s goalie, junior Ethan DesMarteau.  DesMarteau prevailed with perfect positioning causing the strike to travel high and sail over the crossbar.        

 

 The Mustangs were not without chances of their own.  From the 11:15 mark, they made their move.  With precision passing and good spacing, Mullen matriculated the field three times in a span of roughly two minutes putting themselves in position to put one in net.    Again, a shot was slightly askew ricocheting off the left upright.  Another shot was stopped by the Grandview goalie just before net on the right side.  It was that way all afternoon for the Mustangs who came so close so many times and were just millimeters away from victory.

 

The final minutes would prove to be frantic for both teams as each tried its best to get an advantage and capitalize on any fundamental breakdown.  It would be in vain as the minutes turned to seconds on their way to nothing.

 

The Mustangs moved their record to 0-0-1 in league play and 2-1-2 overall.  Up next for the Mustangs is Coronado on Thursday.

 

The Mullen Mustangs hosted Coronado from Colorado Spring Thursday afternoon at 4:00 p.m.  The Mustangs came away with a 2-0 win on goals from freshmen Bash Smith and Andrew Borberg.