Second-half outburst helps Troy rout Walled Lake Northern
BY JAKE LOURIM
STUDENT CORRESPONDENT
TROY — Anyone worried about the offensive output of the Troy soccer team should watch a tape of one of the Colts’ second halves this season.
Troy has proven to be a second-half team.
Troy went into halftime of Saturday’s non-league match with Walled Lake Northern tied 1-1, but that didn’t stop the Colts from turning the district championship rematch into a rout. Ian Fox, Zach Doepke, Stephen Schmidt, Jacob Meissner, and Danny Berger scored in the second half as Troy beat Walled Lake Northern, 6-1.
Less than eight minutes into the game, the Colts gave up their first goal of the season and faced their first deficit. Senior David Eicher committed a foul in the box and the Vikings nailed the ensuing penalty kick.
But the defense was stout the rest of the night, only allowing two shots, and the offense stole the show.
“I was happy with the way we responded,” Troy coach Brian Zawislak said. “I think our defense did a good job — we got stretched out a couple times — but for the most part, we maintained good shape, and we didn’t get flustered, even after the goal.
“We knew there was a lot of soccer left, so we just wanted to make sure we stayed poised.”
After a few missed opportunities, Ahmad Aly put Troy on the board. Meissner’s header was poked around in the box and found Aly — and the junior drilled it. That was the score at halftime after Jason Leslie couldn’t put in either of Filip Buniewicz’s late crosses.
Against a solid Northern team, however, the Colts opened things up in the second half, exposing the Vikings’ defense.
“We maintained the ball and played our game,” Doepke said. “We possessed the ball until opportunities opened up and we took the opportunities.”
Leslie arguably could have scored his first goal of the season to give the Colts the lead, but Fox was awarded the tally instead. Leslie headed the ball off the crossbar and down, apparently going past the goal line, but Fox came in anyway and kicked it into the back of the net.
Doepke scored his third goal of the season just moments later, somehow finding open space in the box for an easy shot.
“Tonight, he was just tenacious, getting after the ball,” Zawislak said, “and then he just made really good simple decisions with the ball. He didn’t do anything too crazy. I think our team just fed off that energy.”
Doepke added anticipation to the list of skills he brought.
“I’m reading the game,” he said. “I know where the ball’s going to drop to get an open shot.”
Those goals wore down the Vikings, as the other three followed with virtually no opposition. They put the Colts up 9-0 over their opponents through three second halves.
Zawislak said that the reason his team has been so good in the second half is because of the halftime adjustments.
Doepke attributed conditioning to the second-half success in addition to the halftime talks.
“This game, I think we just wore them down with our work rate,” he said.
(Jake Lourim is a junior at Troy High school and part of the NOS Student Intern Program.He is also publisher of www.troycoltsportsupdate.com. He can be reached at j.lourim@comcast.net)
Category: High School, High School (M-Z), Prep Wraps, Troy
