Warriors walk into shooting gallery
Fall 7-3 to GAC South's Howell
"What we've really been working on, we want these guys being able to turn and hit, because only the ball has to beat the defender, the player doesn't," Enright said. "Sometimes I think we've been caught trying to make too many perfect moves and passing up on opportunities to have some good hits, so we've just been working on having those guys, when they see an opportunity, when they see a lane, to take the shot."
On Monday, the Vikings heeded that advice, taking many shots against Warrenton in a home match. Several of them hit the mark, as Howell beat the Warriors 7-3, improving to 3-3."Our focus was, we needed to make sure that we use our width and we needed to use our wide players, and I think we were able to do that quite successfully," Enright said. "We were able to create a lot of opportunities, and we were able to strike quick."
Senior Scott Hunter and junior Justin Williams led the way, each finishing with two goals and an assist. Senior Grant Rabus and junior Jake Baumgartner had one goal and one assist in the win.
"It was a fun game, one of the more fun games we've played," Hunter said. "Everybody played well, so it all worked out."
Warrenton, coming off a championship win in the Pacific Tournament, fell to 3-2. Junior Ethan Garcia scored two goals for the Warriors and senior Ryan Woolf had two assists.
"Howell is definitely the best team that we've faced so far this year as far as the way they move the ball, and how they come at you," Warrenton coach John Schulte said. "I think for our midfield and our defense, that was something that's kind of good to see right now, so we can build on it and talk about it and really work on our defense and things like that for the next few games. But they're definitely talented. And just the ball movement, the way they switch fields and stuff, I think it's going to be good for us to go back and talk about this and work on those kinds of things."
The Vikings put on a clinic of how to score off of set pieces in the first half, notching a pair of goals off or corner kicks and another on a throw-in opportunity.
"That's something that we definitely pride ourselves on, making sure that we are able to create good chances off of our set pieces," Enright said.
Hunter put Howell in front with his first goal of the game in the 16th minute. Off a corner kick, Williams played the ball toward the near corner of the penalty area for Grant Rabus, who let it go right through his legs for Hunter just outside the box. Hunter touched the ball ahead and hit a shot that deflected off of Warrenton's Julian Brinckmann and floated just past goalkeeper Mike Niederer, skimming off his hands and going in just underneath the crossbar.
"That was kind of a read play," Enright said. "(Rabus) made a good decision on that cross."
A little over two minutes later, Hunter scored off another corner kick to make it 2-0. This time Williams played the ball to the far side of the box and Jake Baumgartner headed it back into the middle for Hunter's side-volley rip past Niederer.
"It didn't touch the ground. I just hit it, and it went in," Hunter said. "That was exciting."
The Vikings took a 3-0 lead with just over seven minutes left in the first half on Williams' first goal of the game. Off a throw-in, the ball was sent to Williams in the middle of the field, and he made a few stutter moves to create a shooting lane, then blasted a shot from about 22 yards that beat Niederer to the near post.
"They've got four or five guys that can hit rockets, can put the ball in from 20, 25 yards out," Schulte said.
But Warrenton can score, too, and in the 36th minute, senior Ismael Quintanar trimmed the Vikings' lead to 3-1. Junior Daniel Moritz created the play, powering the ball past a group of Howell defenders and into the penalty area, and Quintanar beat goalkeeper Nick Dolan to the ball, chipping it past him and into the net.
"It was good to get that goal and build some confidence, know that we can score off them, we can get pressure on them, we can get the ball on net," Schulte said. "We just need to do more of that and get the ball past and over their defenders, which, we didn't do that well. But we still were able to get some chances, and so we're just going to keep building on it."
The Warriors made it 3-2 in the first minute of the second half, as Garcia scored off of a free kick. Standing about 25 yards out, Woolf played a soft chip near the PK spot, and Garcia ran onto the ball, heading it past Cory Herweck, who played the second half in goal for the Vikings.
"We've been practicing that, just going over it and over it, and we just were able to do it in the game," Woolf said.
"That was definitely great touch from Ryan," Schulte said. "A little bit harder and we miss it and don't get anything, a little bit shorter we don't get it, so it was a perfect ball, and Ethan did a great job to finish it and put it away from the keeper."
But Howell would score the next three goals to put the game out of reach.
Off a quick-counter n the 45th minute, Austin Michelson played the ball ahead for Williams, who carried it with speed into the left side of the box and drove a shot through a helpless Niederer. About 10 minutes later, again on a counterattack led by junior defender Blake Wager, Hunter played the ball wide for Rabus, who touched it back to Baumgartner just outside the box, and he hit a shot that got by Niederer.
"We try to transition as fast as possible from offense to defense," Hunter said.
"As a team, we've played really good this year, and we've passed the ball real well. The past few games, we've struggled a little bit, but this game, we pulled through. We had real good chemistry, passing the ball, swinging it from side to side. Just real good passing throughout the field, getting it up and down the flanks, up and down the sides of our field, and that's how we got all our goals, basically."
Howell took a 6-2 lead with a little over 25 minutes remaining as Hunter wisely switched the fields and hit a long ball to Rabus, who was open near the top of the box for the shot and the goal.
"We played hard," Woolf said. "It's just little miscommunications here and there that led to the goals. Whenever we were down, they just took advantage of it."
But Warrenton didn't stay down, scoring its third goal about a minute later. Off a rush, Woolf made a few moves into the right side of the penalty area and hit a low cross that slipped through the hands of a diving Herweck, and Garcia was there to clean it up.
"That was the thing we talked about at halftime was coming out and just keep playing hard and try to put in some more goals," Schulte said.
"The second half, definitely we were getting more into a groove," Woolf said. "We were getting more confident, because coming into the game, we knew that this team was a very good team, and we just had to get over that. We were just working as a team. All our passes, everything. We were just connecting really well."
Freshman Mike Holmes closed out the scoring with 14 minutes to play off a pass from Ben Spaunhorst.
"When we're clicking, I think offensively we can challenge people, but it's not going to be a complete success if we can't combine offensive success with defensive success," Enright said.
Warrior defense key to tourney title
While the Warriors' offense provided some positive moments at Howell, Schulte said it was the team's defense that led the way to the title at the Pacific Tournament last week.
Warrenton beat Hillsboro 1-0 behind a Garcia goal to open the tourney on Tuesday, then topped De Soto 2-1 on Thursday, with Woolf notching the game-winner after Patrick Higgins scored in the first half. The Warriors faced DuBourg in the championship game, which was tied 1-1 after regulation and two 10-minute overtime periods, sending the game to penalty kicks. Warrenton connected on four of its five attempts and, thanks to a Niederer save, bested the Cavaliers 4-2 in PKs to win the championship.
"DuBourg is a really good team," Schulte said. "They're really quick, and they can really control the ball and dish off and move.
"It was a great experience for the kids to be in there, and to be in the championship game like that, I think it's going to help us in the future. Especially going to PKs, and winning on PKs, that's just going to help us when we get into those tight games that we know what we have to do."
Schulte said his defensive quartet of Julian Brinckmann, Willie Hawley, Garrett Brewe and Joe Miesner "did a phenomenal job" throughout the tournament.
"They were outstanding," he said. "We really limited teams on the amount of shots they had and the quality of shots that they had, and that really kept us in a lot of the games. They did a good job of getting that ball up top, and our forwards and midfielders were just playing extremely hard."
After travelling to St. Charles West to begin Gateway Athletic Conference North Division play on Tuesday, Warrenton will host Washington on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
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