Hang 10! Cougars surf past Raiders
By JEREMY SELLEW
jsellew@yourmvi.com
After what head coach Jon Ducoli called “a slow start” Tuesday, the Charleroi boys soccer team kicked things into high gear and blasted visiting Waynesburg Central, 10-1, to up its section winning streak to 39 games.
The visiting Raiders used the momentum from a couple of huge saves by goalkeeper Chase Henkins and scored the opening goal of the game just over 14 minutes in to take a 1-0 lead.
But that goal just woke the sleeping Cougars.
“I think we did need a little bit of a wake-up call,” Ducoli said. “We just started so slow. We had a couple chances we didn’t put it and we couldn’t get going.”
Once they trailed 1-0, go they did.
The Cougars put 46 shots toward the frame, 31 of them on goal and Henkins kept his team in it as long as he could, making 21 saves in the game.
“He was really good for them,” Ducoli said. “Who knows what would have happened if we get some of those early chances to go in, but he was fantastic.”
Charleroi (11-0, 9-0) scored 10 unanswered goals against the short-handed Raiders (4-3, 4-3).
Waynesburg was down two players after they received red cards in the Raiders’ last game.
“Of course, you want to take that to your advantage,” Ducoli said. “Our guys are in really nice shape and we wanted to look at that opportunity and expose their weaknesses.”
Shortly after the Raiders scored the opening tally, the Cougars answered right back when Jake Caruso put in a header off a great feed from Sam Iacovangelo, who sent the past from the left side to the far post.
Eben McIntyre, who finished with five goals for the Cougars, scored his first two in the first half just minutes apart to give his team a 3-1 lead at the half.
“It’s just ridiculous watching him,” Ducoli said. “Seeing him being able to do the things he does, and sometimes he’s marked by two, three, even four players at times. The thing is he’s so unselfish and he’s willing to pass to teammates if he doesn’t have a shot.”
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