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Mason County drops 4-0 decision to Holy Cross
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By TONY BOYD For The Ledger Independent
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After a nip-and-tuck first half, the Covington Holy Cross Indians posted three second-half goals to break the game open and went on to down Mason County, 4-0, in the last regular-season game for the Royals boys' soccer team.
Mason County struggled offensively the whole game and never seriously threatened to score. The Royals managed to get off only eight shots on goal, seven of which came in the first half. The Indians, on the other hand, fired off 27 attempts, including 17 in the second half when they took control of the contest.
"(Holy Cross) is a very, very skilled team," said Mason County coach Brett Redwine. "They are big and quick and they get on the ball. We're missing four key players and itís real hard to make up for that. We're having to go with a lot of young guys with a lot of inexperience and they are having trouble catching up with the speed of the game."
After leading 1-0 at halftime, Holy Cross began the second half strong and quickly got on the board when Jeff Gudugli used a quick burst of speed to get around a Mason County defender and then drilled the ball into the net past the Royals' keeper, Kyle Thompson, in the 42nd minute of the game.
Only three minutes later, the Indians increased their lead to 3-0 on a nice diagonal shot by Richard Bach that barely cleared Thompson's reach and settled into the goal. That shot seemed to take the wind out of the Royals' sails and the game was all but over.
"They have a very strong attacking team," Redwine said. "We got tucked in and held our ground for a while. Then we made a miscue here and a miscue there and we were in trouble."
The final goal of the half and the game came in the 67th minute after Thompson stopped a shot by an Indian player. In the confusion on the rebound and in the midst of several players, Holy Cross' Andrew Burwinkel was able to nudge the ball past an out-of-position Thompson for the score.
Had it not been for some nice stops by Thompson, the score would have been even more lopsided as he faced a constant barrage of attacks by the Indians.
The first goal of the game didnít come until the 31st minute after the two teams went back and forth up and down the field. Finally, Tyler Kincaid broke away from the pack and finished with a shot that beat Thompson to the right side of the net. Prior to that goal, Thompson had made two nice stops on balls that appeared headed for the goal.
Despite the loss, Redwine was quick to praise his team's effort.
"I really wasn't concerned about winning or losing this game," he said. "I just wanted to use it to prepare for Grant County in the district and I think we did that. I got some ideas on how to change some things up that will give us the best shot to proceed."
The Royals will enter district play at 5 p.m. Tuesday at the Tom Browning Boys and Girls Club in Maysville.
"I think we have a good draw," added Redwine. "If we win one, we are in the region. When tournament time comes, anything can happen."
Holy Cross 0 4 ñ 4
Mason County 0 0 ñ 0
HC-Kincaid, 31st minute
HC-Gudugli, 42nd minute
HC-Bach, 45th minute
HC-Burwinkel, 67th minute |
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