Lynx pummel Brookings in 7-0 ESD Conference victory

By: 
Staff report
Wilma Kirkeby/For the Journal 
BV implements an attack on the Aberdeen Central goal during Friday’s “Senior Night” match. The Golden Eagles came away with the tightly-contested 1-0 win.
There was no stopping the Lynx boys’ soccer team last week.
 
On Sept. 8, Brandon Valley ran wild as they posted a 7-0 Eastern South Dakota Conference victory against the visiting Brookings Bobcats. It’s the second game this season where the Lynx didn’t allow a single goal.
 
After receiving a few hard challenges by the Bobcat defenders, BV’s Carson Barton earned a penalty kick for the Lynx when he was taken down inside the penalty area nine minutes into the game. Eli Kirlin stepped up to calmly slot the resulting penalty kick past the Bobcat goalkeeper for the early lead. 
 
With 14 minutes to play in the first half, the Bobcat goalkeeper saved a shot by Aidan Mitzel, but the save rebounded into the path of Connor Akin, who volleyed it into the back of the Brookings’ net to double BV’s lead. 
 
With a 2-0 lead in their pockets at the half, BV head coach Chris Limmer said he talked to his team about the 2-0 advantage, “which is commonly known to be the most dangerous lead in soccer, and we had to keep the intensity up and push for more goals,” the coach said.
 
And that’s just what the Lynx did.
 
Three minutes into the second half, BV got the opportunity to increase their lead when Barton found himself in acres of space behind the Brookings backline, thanks to a nice pass by senior defender, Caden Hansen. With the Bobcat goalkeeper coming out, the Lynx senior forward hit a nicely placed shot into the upper corner of the net, rewarding him for his high work rate against the Bobcat defenders. 
 
About 10 minutes later Akin scored his second goal of the night when he intercepted a poor punt from the Bobcat goalkeeper and sliced a nicely placed ball into the upper right corner of the goal. 
 
Two minutes later Joey Anders deflected a well-placed free kick that was taken by Mitzel into the goal. 
 
With the wheels falling completely off for the Bobcats, the Lynx planted their third goal in a span of four minutes when Noah Chan and Dareck Anthony connected on a play similar to Barton’s goal that started the scoring in the second half. This was Anthony’s first goal of the year and Chan’s first assist. 
 
BV completed the dominant second half performance when Landon Kocer intercepted a poor pass from the Bobcats, beat his defender and slotted a perfectly-placed shot off the far post and into the back of the net. 
 
Limmer said the victory was a result of not letting up.
 
“Ultimately, tonight’s victory was a result of us taking maximum advantage of the opportunities presented by mistakes from our opponent. Sometimes we get those chances and don’t take them, but it seemed we scored every time we had a good chance. I was very pleased with the quality of our finishing tonight,” he said.
 
The Lynx fired 16 shots – 13 on goal – to Brookings’ 11 shots, seven of which were on goal. Spicer, BV’s goalie, recorded seven saves, while the Bobcat goalie staff was credited with six.
 
Brookings won the junior varsity game 3-1.
 
BV 0, Aberdeen Central 1
The Lynx boys proved they can play with the best of teams. On Friday – Senior Night – BV matched wits with one of Class AA’s top-ranked teams, Aberdeen Central.
 
“This was ultimately a pretty even game against a very good opponent,” is how Limmer summed up the 1-0 loss. “This game was pretty physical with Aberdeen committing 15 fouls to BV’s 13.”
 
In the first half, the teams largely shared possession time and both created good chances to score. BV’s Mitzel nearly scored from a tight angle via an attacking run into the box, but hit it just wide due to good pressure from his defender. Junior goalkeeper, Ayden Spicer, came up with key saves to hold off the Golden Eagles.
 
At the break, Limmer said the plan was to continue to give AC much of the same.
 
“We didn’t feel we needed to change much at halftime. We were playing well and Aberdeen was clearly frustrated,” he said.
 
The second half was more of the same. Just as it looked like the game would end in a fitting scoreless draw, an AC midfielder made a really good pass that found their forward in a bit of space and was able to hold off a Lynx defender and get a quick shot off that went off the far post and in the back of the net for the only goal of the game. With 10 minutes to play, AC held the 1-0 advantage.
 
“I think we played well enough to earn a draw, but they converted on one of our mistakes,” Limmer said. “Despite the loss, the game showed that we can definitely compete with the best teams in the state if we play well.”
 
BV delivered nine shots, six of which were on goal. AC had 13 shots, of which seven were on goal. Both teams were credited with six saves.
 
BV 3-3-2 (3-2 ESD) hosts Sioux Falls Lincoln at 7 p.m. Thursday and travels to Huron on Sept. 22 for a 7:30 p.m. clash with the Tigers.

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