Mike Vukovcan The Hopewell Boys Soccer team battled North Catholic in a hard-fought matchup last night, ultimately falling with another 1–0 loss for the Vikings. Offensively, the Vikings have found goals hard to come by in their first two games this year.Â
The Vikings’ defense was tested throughout the night, and goalkeeper Tallon Coleman came up big with over 15 saves, including several diving and sliding stops that kept Hopewell within striking distance.
Hopewell’s back line (RJ Bushnell, Dominic Buchanan, Elijah Persi-Jones and Sam Wrzesniewski) continued to battle and break up attacking runs. The only goal of the game came when Coleman made a great save off a shot from North Catholic, but the ball went back into play and North Catholic capitalized on a second chance shot past Coleman.
Offensively, Hopewell continued to look for opportunities. Quincy Sannan and Kaleb Gonzalez connected on a nice give-and-go that helped spark an offensive push, with Sannan getting a shot off shortly after. Aaden Gonzalez also worked hard to create chances, including fighting through several defenders on a run toward goal and later creating another opportunity with a shot just over the net. Freshman, Dylan Ankrom was challenged this game with playing a new position and played an extremely aggressive game for the midfield. Justin Dennis was utilized both offensively and defensively and came away with a solid performance throughout the game. Will Arzberger and Parker Hoth were able to stop several key runs from the North Catholic side and Jaidyn Shoemaker showed his speed throughout the game.
Hopewell is showing defensively they can hold teams to few goals, once offense goals start connecting the Vikings will knowingly put some wins in their columns.
JV was able to walk away with a tied game against North Catholic with goals being scored by RJ Arthur and Josh Liptak.
