Boys Soccer Gets First Win in Shootout at South
Louisville 7, Canton South 5
The Louisville Leopards boys soccer team removed their winless mark with an offensive juggernaunt in the first half against the Canton South Wildcats at Clyde Brechbuhler Stadium in Canton Township Tuesday night. Louisville led 6-3 at the half before cruising to a 7-5 victory.
Just like any other game the Leopards’ opponent found the net first just 2:16 into the contest on a breakaway goal. But, this time the Leps responded to the challenge. A lead pass from Riley Groves allowed Kyle Baker to run past a South defender and plant the ball into the right side of the net to tie the game back up at 1-1.
Baker would again be involved on the Leopards next scoring play. He drove to the right side of the net and passed across the goal box to Groves, but he never got to it. Instead a charging South defender couldn’t stop himself and his momentum propelled him to kick the ball into his own goal to give the Leps a lead that they would never relinquish.
A little over three minutes later, Baker would have a hat trick, scoring all three of his goals in a span of just 5:11. Baker scored all three goals off fast breaks and hammered home each goal into the top right corner of the net. A few Louisville fans threw their hats in celebration as the Leps took a 4-1 advantage.
Despite South scoring five goals on the evening, goalie Austin Hallas still made some superb stops on the night. The top defensive highlight occurred when Ford made a save on a Canton South penalty kick keeping Louisville in the lead 4-1.
A few minutes later Harrison Raub would make a beautiful pass in between two defenders finding Groves on the other end of it. Groves dribbled twice and unleashed a rocket from the left side of the penalty box and into the right side of the net.
South would make things interesting scoring two in a 2:24 span leaving a little over two minutes left on the game clock. However, Louisville got their sixth goal of the half when Groves scored on a free kick just outside the center of the penalty box with 1:17 remaining in the half.
The Leopards road the momentum from the first half immediately into the second half. In a crazy sequence, Raub broke free and appeared to be slide tackled by the goalie. With no whistle to be heard, Jerry Julian cleaned up the mess by tapping the ball into the net as he fell over out of bounds. 7-3 Leps.
The Wildcats would score two more goals before the night was over, but their comeback would fall short and Louisville would earn their first win of the season improving to 1-8 on the year.
UP NEXT: The Leopards will host the Massillon Tigers on Thursday, September 22 at 7:00 PM at Louisville Leopard Stadium. This will be the first soccer game ever played at the new football stadium.
PICTURES:
These pictures and the featured image taken by and courtesy of the Campbell family.
