Anderson’s back four was easily the biggest and most talented group that Beavercreek has faced this season and pretty well kept #13 and #5 in check for most of the game which is the first time I can remember that this season. As the second half ground on, Anderson’s counters with #11 and #17 continued to be dangerous so kudos to Creek’s coaches who recognized this and brought an extra defender back to make a traditional 4 fullback line (Beavercreek had been playing a 3-5-2 up to that point) and shuffled a few other players to man mark as well to shore up the defense. This seemed to settle things down for Creek on the defensive end. Each team traded some chances after that and eventually Beavercreek’s #5 continued his tourney magic and found the far post on a tough angle. Tip of the hat to the Creek reserve goalie who had to come into a tough situation with over 20 minutes left to play to keep the score sheet blank.
On the pk, whether that was a bad call will obviously depend on whose side you are on. From our Beavercreek angle, the defender clearly took out the forward’s legs in the box. At the very least, it was a legitimate 50/50 pk judgment call by the referee – a play that you sometimes see called and sometimes not called. If it hadn’t been called a pk, I’d be posting about the horrible non-call in the box.
Overall, Anderson really impressed me and the game could have gone either way. I can see how they deservedly made it this far in the tourney.