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The Oswego varsity boys soccer team hosted the Bulldogs of Nottingham on Saturday afternoon and came away with a close 4-3 victory.
The visitors opened the scoring just 1:51 into the contest as Agwer Kuethping slotted a loose ball into the back of the Buccaneer net. For the remainder of the first half the Bucs dominated possession of the ball, but could not find the back of the net.
Nottingham scored again when Edem Wemene found himself one-on-one with Buc goalie Josh Baer. Baer made the initial save on Wemene’s shot, but the rebound went right back to the Nottingham player who buried it in the back of the net to give the visitor’s a two goal halftime cushion.
Coach Don Fronk said, “We did a nice job of moving the ball in the middle third of the field in the first half, but were unable to finish our chances in the final third. As our chances increased throughout the half more and more of our players began to commit themselves forward leaving us vulnerable to counterattacks, and that is exactly what happened on their second goal.”
The second half began with the Bucs again maintaining pressure on the Nottingham goal. With 8:34 gone in the half Ryan Ramsey found himself with the ball on the end line and slotted a shot that went across the goal, hit the far post and rebounded in to cut the Nottingham lead in half.
Then just two minutes later an Oswego player was taken down just outside of the Bulldog penalty area. Pat Holland struck the free kick from just inside the far post to tie the game at 2-2.
Unfortunately for the Bucs Nottingham again took the lead when Ibrahim Muya scored to again put the visitors up 3-2 with just under 28 minutes to play. The Bucs continued to press for the tying goal when with 17 minutes left to play Oswego midfielder Nate Pacheco was taken down inside the Nottingham penalty area resulting in a penalty kick for the Bucs. Pacheco then converted the kick to again tie the game at 3-3.
Oswego Sophomore Stephen Auyer completed the comeback for the Bucs when Kristopher Baum flicked a ball on to Freshman Aaron Marsallo who found Auyer near the far post. Auyer blasted a shot that beat Nottingham goalie Jon Reid with just 1:28 remaining in the contest. Baer and Reid each finished with nine saves in the contest.
Fronk noted, “This was a good test for us, we proved that when we play with a sense of urgency we can score goals. In the first half we dominated play but did not finish, in the second half we again dominated play but we were smarter with who we sent forward and were able to limit their scoring opportunities. As we push for a spot in the end of season Sectional tournament this was a huge win for us, the boys played hard and although we were down 2-0 at the half we never gave up.”
Oswego’s (5-8) next game is Tuesday at Henninger at 6:30 p.m.
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