CONNEAUT —
The Conneaut Spartans defended their home field on Wednesday afternoon as they held off the Edgewood Warriors, 4-2.
The game started in favor of Edgewood (0-11-2) as the Warriors pushed the ball into Conneaut’s half of the field, getting plenty of shots on goal, several of which were near misses.
About 27 minutes into the first half Edgewood came even closer to breaking open the game with the first score, sending a shot bouncing off the front right corner of the goal.
The close calls seemed to wake up Conneaut (4-6-2), as time ticked down to halftime the Spartans kept the pressure on trying to get their first goal as well.
With just 45 seconds left on the clock, sophomore Spartans midfielder Jake Spees dished off the assist on the left side of the field to teammate sophomore midfielder Joey Burt, who blasted the kick into the Edgewood goal for the score, giving Conneaut the one-goal advantage and the momentum heading into halftime.
“Momentum changer, gave us confidence into the second half, perfect timing” Conneaut coach Rich Shields said.
“It didn’t help,” Edgewood coach Kevin Santee said. “We played a great first half.
“(In the) first half we didn’t finish chances. Gotta finish chances.”
However Santee was happy with the fact that the Warriors did create a large amount of opportunities.
About five minutes into the second half, Edgewood sophomore forward Gion Engelman connected on a Lance Butler pass that tied the game at 1-1.
But the Spartans answered right back about one minute later when Burt found the back of the net for the second time.
Freshman striker Cole Clausen continued the Spartans surge about 15 minutes into the half on when he was fouled attempting to navigate through the Warriors defense. He converted the penalty kick for the open goal, pushing the Spartans lead to 3-1.
While Edgewood looked to battle back, Conneaut continued to build its lead.
Following an impressive save from Warriors goalie Erik Hodges the ball fell loose off the hard rebound and Spartan co-captain senior midfielder Stephan Acevedo swept in and fired without hesitation, giving Conneaut the three-goal advantage.
“Passed better,” Shields said of his team’s offensive improvement, “(We had) control of the ball in the second half.
“Gave us opportunities, we were losing the ball at the 45.”
Edgewood battled until the end as the Warriors scored a final goal with a minute remaining, this time on a penalty kick by Adam Heffner.
“(We had) a lotta good shots,” Santee said. “You gotta give credit to Conneaut. They didn’t bend or break, they finished.”
Erik Hodges had 17 saves on the day.
Seniors Johnathan Pendleton, Josh Braden, Marco Orlando and Connor Lynch as well as freshman Breyton Santee helped Edgewood stay in the game throughout.
As for Conneaut, junior co-captain Kyle Sprinkle, junior Josh Mannion and freshman Hunter Mc Clintock helped the Spartans swarm the ball defensively away from Edgewood
“Our defenders are top of the line, good luck passing ‘em,” Shields said.
Junior goalkeeper for the Spartans Tommy Webb also added 16 saves helping the Spartans get the win.
Velotta is a freelance writer from Concord Township.
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