Lynx score big – and often – in 8-0 soccer victory
By:
Jill Meier, Journal editor
The Lynx boys celebrated homecoming week in style, posting a dominating 8-0 victory over ESD Conference rival Harrisburg on Sept. 15, and battling Sioux Falls Roosevelt to a 0-0 tie two days later.
BV 8, Harrisburg 0
Brandon Valley dominated the Tigers from start to finish, taking 27 shots at the Harrisburg goal, of which 16 were on goal. On the opposite end of the field, Harrisburg managed just two shots, one of which was on goal. The Lynx defense was also primed, keeping the Tigers from getting off a single show in the first half of play.
In this ESD meeting, the Lynx scored early – and often – getting the party started nine minutes into the game when Joey Anders sent a long throw-in to Carson Barton. Barton, a senior, took advantage of a defense that didn’t deal well with the pressure, as he gained control of the ball and hit a shot that the Tiger goalkeeper couldn’t hold onto.
Eight minutes later Luke Burch and Eli Kirlin combined for a nice goal. Burch played the ball to Kirlin and made a run forward from his central defender spot. Kirlin released Burch behind the Tiger defense with a perfectly timed pass for the senior captain to knock past the goalkeeper.
Twenty-four minutes into the game, senior Lawson Lambertz would get the first goal of his hat trick when he took a pass from Connor Akin, got behind the Tiger defense, and beat the keeper.
Just over a minute later, Lambertz registerd his first of three assists on the night when he crossed the ball from the left side of the penalty area to Kirlin, who touched the ball past the Harrisburg goalkeeper to notch BV’s fourth goal of the night.
The final goal of the first half came when Lambertz played a ball through the center of the Tiger defense to find Mayer Matthies, who hit a shot to the far post to beat the Tiger goalkeeper, giving the Lynx the 5-0 advantage at the half.
“We knew we were capable of getting a comfortable lead by halftime if we played well, and we hit our target of being up by at least five goals by halftime,” BVHS coach Chris Limmer said. “I didn’t want the guys feeling too overconfident going into the game, so we set a pretty high bar for our halftime result.”
It took a while for BV’s offense to heat back up in the second half, but once they did, they sizzled. Nineteen minutes into the final half, Lambertz got on the end of a cross by Matthies and hit it off the goalkeeper initially, but was able to tap in the rebound. Ninety seconds later, the two linked up a second time as Matthies played a through ball behind the Tiger defense for Lambertz to run onto. Once again, the speedy Lambertz beat the keeper with a low shot to the far post to complete the hat trick. One minute later, BV put the final nail in the coffin as Caden Hansen made a run forward with the ball, laid it off to Lambertz, who flicked it behind the Tiger defense for Hansen to attack. Hansen slotted a nicely placed kick into the bottom left corner for his first goal of the season and earned Lambertz his third assist on the night.
“Overall, I was pleased with our result, even though we got off to a slow start, in my opinion,” Limmer said. “We did hit our halftime goal and also got another shutout, however, and were able to play a lot of players and rest our key players in preparation for our second game later in the week, which would be a lot more challenging.”
The Lynx were charged with two fouls and BV’s goalkeeper had one save to Harrisburg’s seven.
BV 0, SFL 0
If you can’t beat them, then a tie is the next best thing, and that’s what unfolded Thursday night at the BVHS Stadium, where the Lynx and the Sioux Falls Lincoln Patriots battled it out to a scoreless tie.
“I wasn’t too disappointed in our overall play, but was frustrated that we couldn’t find a way to win since we were up a player for quite a bit of the game,” Limmer said.
After a scary start to the game for the Lynx, who found themselves giving up two good scoring chances to Lincoln in the first few minutes of play, the game was fairly even. Each team had a handful of good chances to score, but neither squad could find the back of the net. The goalkeeper for both teams had some good saves and the teams battled for possession in the midfield.
The Lynx caught a perceived break early in the second half when one of Lincoln’s center backs received his second yellow card of the match, resulting in a red card. With Lincoln playing a man down for the remainder of the game, BV stepped up the pressure and pushed for a game-winning goal. Lincoln, however, was able to fend off the Lynx despite BV firing 10 of their 16 shot opportunities in the second half.
“In the end, it’s a decent result against a good team, but I thought we could have done better,” Limmer said.
BV delivered 16 shots (six on goal), while Lincoln had 18, of which 11 were on goal. The Lynx committed seven fouls in the contest to Lincoln’s 11. And BV’s Ayden Spicer got a hand on 10 saves to the Patriots’ eight saves.
BV (4-3-3) heads into the final stretch of their season, which includes a road trip to Watertown this Thursday and a home game with Sioux Falls Roosevelt on Oct. 1.
