BOYS SOCCER: Avondale pulls away from Holly
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.Stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
Twitter: @LocalSportsFans
AUBURN HILLS — Just three years removed from its first and only state championship team, finding the win column this season has been quite a struggle for Auburn Hills Avondale’s youthful squad.
There are only two remaining holdovers from that team and the Yellowjackets only put up a 4-13-4 record during the regular season this autumn, facing a brutally tough slate of games with mostly underclassmen.
The state tournament brings forth a clean slate — and Avondale took advantage of that Monday.
District host Avondale survived to live another day in the Division 2 postseason, topping visiting Holly, 3-1, in a pre-district contest.
“The tournament does give us a clean slate. We needed that because we only won four games in the regular season,” reminded Avondale coach Doug Steinard. “We had a bunch of close losses and our schedule was brutal tough. We played a bunch of teams that were ranked and a couple of others that were honorable mention.”
Avondale scored the first goal in the eighth minute, when sophomore Erik Gaytan booted home a shot in traffic from 12 yards out. Senior Stuart Russ’ cross from the corner to junior Dante White was redirected over to an awaiting Gaytan, who left no doubt.
The one-goal lead stood until there was 19:13 left in the contest. Sophomore Owen Killewald’s cross was headed home by a charging Griffin Kubert, whose laser header reached the upper 90 of the net by the near post. The game-winner gave Avondale some breathing room.
“I was worried, because they are very fast up top and they have some strong set pieces. All it takes is a goal and they’re back in the game,” said Steinard. “I think that second goal was huge. It was a great goal, nobody was stopping that. That gave us a little bit (of a cushion) and then we scored the third right after that.”
The Yellowjackets put the game out of reach with 15:12 remaining, when White’s header found the upper webbing at the far post following a cross from Russ.
Holly (5-12-1) spoiled the shutout with 2:59 left on a goal by Zach Caldwell.
“I though we were a little flat in the first half. We came out and played much better second half,” offered Holly coach Mike Steibel. “We had a couple of chances and we stayed with them, but they scored those two really nice goals and we couldn’t come back from that. We played hard and I’m proud of this group of guys. We didn’t give up. But down three goals with less than 10 minutes left is too much to come back from.”
The Bronchos kept the game close due to the play of goalkeeper Adam Herdman, who made a couple of acrobatic saves in the second half to keep the game close.
Avondale held a 22-6 shots edge, including 10-4 with shots directly on frame. Both teams traded off three cornerkicks, with Herdman notching seven saves for Holly and Drew McCarthy making three saves for Avondale.
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