Mike Vukovcan CENTER TOWNSHIP– The Hopewell Vikings battled section rival Central Valley in another tightly contested match, but despite several scoring chances, the Vikings came up just short in another 1-0 defeat.
Hopewell came out very aggressive and was dominating the possession game, but unfortunately a breakdown in communication during a corner kick led to the only goal of the match for Central Valley midway during the first half.
The Vikings quickly settled back in and pushed forward with Tommy Armour finding John Saxon for the first real scoring opportunity, but the CV goalkeeper was there for the stop.
Central Valley managed to come up with a couple more scoring opportunities, but goalie Tallon Coleman and the Vikings defense led by Alex Alvarado turned away each chance. One outstanding stop that prevented a second goal came when Alvardo came up with a huge sliding stop to deny a dangerous shot at the net.
Hopewell continued to have control of the ball and early found the tying goal late in the first half off of a corner kick, when Armour connected with Rocco Marcantonio, who laid it off to Aaden Gonzalez for a strike that was again stopped by the CV keeper.
Just a minute later, the Vikings tested the goalie again, but Central Valley held strong to keep the lead into halftime.
The second half opened with another CV run, but a combined effort from Alvardo and Coleman preserved the one-goal margin. Saxson nearly leveled the score with a shot that sailed just over the crossbar. Hopewell continued to press offensively but just couldn’t find the back of the net.
Despite the 1-0 loss, Hopewell showed strong defensive grit and improved offensive connections, giving them plenty of positives to build on moving forward.
Next match will be September 9th at Tony Dorsett Stadium against Beaver starting at 7:30 PM.
