BOYS SOCCER: Athens keeps perfect record intact with shutout of Troy
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BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
Twitter: @LocalSportsFans
TROY — During its illustrious 33-year history, Troy Athens’ boys soccer team has put together many fine starts. This season is clearly one of the Red Hawks’ very best.
Ranked fourth in the state in Division 1 in Tuesday’s coaches poll, the Red Hawks moved their streak to nine straight wins to open the 2013 campaign with a resounding 3-0 shutout of arch-rival and host Troy in OAA Red Division play.
Athens (9-0-0) has now outscored the opposition by an impressive 26-3 margin with six shutouts and no team has scored more than one goal in a contest against the Red Hawks.
More importantly, Athens sits alone atop the OAA-Red standings at 2-0-0 and has now beaten Troy in the regular season for the second straight year after going 2008-2011 without beating the Colts during league play.
“Troy has had our number for a while now,” Athens coach Todd Heugh said. “We got them last year, but besides that, they’ve taken it to us (in recent years).”
With the all-time series relatively close, Athens proved to be superior this season against Troy, which graduated several key players and has four more players locked in with the U.S. Soccer Academy and unable to suit up for the high school team. The Colts are off to an uncharacteristic 2-4-1 start, including 0-3-0 in league play and likely out of the race already.
“We talk about getting better every day and try to get ready for October when the tournament starts,” said Zawislak, whose team won the OAA-Red in 1and reached the state semifinals. “We don’t really have a chance in the league now, but we still have time to improve for the end of the season.”
Athens, which is the defending OAA-Red champion, is trying to win its first back-to-back league championships since winning 10 straight from 1981-1990. The Red Hawks feature 14 seniors on its roster and plenty of leadership.
“We talk all the time about what we want to do for Troy Athens soccer,” noted Heugh. “You go to the gym and see all of those banners. I asked them, ‘What type of mark do you want to leave?” I think this group of kids are really playing for something now.”
Athens left its mark on Troy, scoring goals at the end of the first half, early in the second half and then an insurance tally in the final minutes to back the goaltending of senior Aaron Nufer, a converted baseball player who notched his sixth shutout on four saves in his first season as a goaltender .
Athens scored what proved to be the game-winner with 13 seconds left in the first half.
Senior Aaron Gebauer’s cornerkick into the box was deflected right over to senior Luis Anaya, who headed home the close-range shot. It was Anaya’s 10th goal of the campaign.
“If you can get to double-digit goals in our league, with the competition that we play against, those are great numbers,” said Heugh. “He’s scored, in I bleive, seven straight games. He’s been our best finisher. We still have a lot of league games left, too, so hopefully he’s not done.”
Senior Bryan Lawson made it 2-0 with 37:40 left in the second half when he retrieved a header from Gebauer some 40 yards in front of the goal, split two defenders and eventually cashed in his breakaway opportunity for a 2-0 Athens lead.
Anaya set up senior Marc Hebbeker with an insurance tally with 1:07 remaining, as Hebbeker rifled home a shot from 10 yards out to cap the scoring. Athens outshot Troy 11-5 overall, including 8-4 with shot directly on frame.
“We’ve been fortunate to score goals at opportune times,” note d Heugh. “It’s zero-zero and we get the chance and score just before halftime. Then we put one away in the first three minutes of the second half. If we don’t work hard and get those chances, then its (scoreless) and could be a different game. Instead we kept working hard and never let up and we were able to get that third goal.”.
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