McIntyre’s hat trick leads Cougars past Bearcats

By JEREMY SELLEW

jsellew@yourmvi.com

The Charleroi boys soccer team kept things rolling Tuesday, taking advantage of a shorthanded Bentworth squad and capturing a 4-1 win at Myron Pottios Stadium.

Injuries have left a few holes in the Bearcats lineup and the Cougars made it a point to take advantage.

“Of course when you know a team is down a few important guys, you try to exploit that and take advantage of the holes and inexperience a team has in their lineup,” Charleroi coach Jon Ducoli said. “Give them credit, it could have been a lot worse but their keeper kept them in the game early on.”

Landon Urcho got the start in goal for the Bearcats (2-2) and made some stunning saves, especially on Cougars standout Eben McIntyre. 

But McIntyre’s persistence finally paid off and he finally cashed in and beat Urcho with a low shot with 19:59 to go in the first half on his fifth shot on frame in the game.

“Landon was really good for us,” Bentworth coach Gary Amos said. “He’s long and athletic, that’s why we put him back there. He made some big saves early on, we just couldn’t muster much offense.”

The Cougars (5-0) were snakebitten in the first half, unable to cash in on numerous chances around the cage.

Charleroi had 10 corner-kick opportunities and were unable to come up with any goals. But they had a few good chances. Urcho was up to the task again and again, stopping a couple point-blank chances on the sixth Cougars’ corner. Eben McIntyre had a chance on a bouncing header, but the ball bounced up and over the crossbar on the ninth attempt at it.

But McIntyre and the Cougars kept plugging away, avoiding frustration.

“Not from Eben. He’s so focused and he has that mentality to just keep going,” Ducoli said. 

To read the rest of this story, please see a copy of Wednesday’s Mon Valley Independent, call 724-314-0035 to subscribe or subscribe to our online edition at https://e.monvalleyindependent.com.