It’s close. Todd Hoovler can see it coming together for his Mansfield Senior boys soccer team. The latest step forward was a 1-1 tie with Clear Fork on Tuesday night at the Malabar Soccer Complex.
In his third year as Tygers head coach, Hoovler has reshaped Mansfield Senior into a team that can compete with the best the Ohio Cardinal Conference has to offer.
Tuesday’s tie kept Mansfield Senior’s record even across the board at 2-2-1 overall and 1-1-1 in the OCC. Clear Fork is now 4-1-1 overall and 2-0-1 in the league.
“I thought we played really well in the first half,” Hoovler said of the first 40 minutes, a strong period that ended with Mansfield Senior holding onto a 1-0 lead. “They flat outplayed us in the second. We are kind of lucky to get out with with a tie.”
After a scoreless battle for 22 minutes on the pitch, the Tygers scored their goal with 18:21 left. Defender Hutch Blackstone thundered a long pass on a direct kick from about 35 yards that forward Colton Henderson headed into the net past Colts’ goalkeeper Zach Pyle.
It was just one of booming blasts from the senior Blackstone, who also kicks for the Tygers’ football team, including several booming goal kicks. “Hutch can put the ball deep from the defensive end into the goal box,” Hoovler said.
The Colts, who owned a 23-13 edge in shots on goal, dominated most of the second half and misfired on several quality scoring chances, including a penalty kick by Karsten Vuillemont that Mansfield Senior goalkeeper Sam Miller stopped with a dive to his left about nine minutes into the second half. Miller is now 2-for-2 this season in stopping penalty kicks.
Vuillemnont and teammate Jake Neumann wore out Tyger defenders in the second half with one shot after another that sailed just wide or was stopped by Miller, who finished with 11 saves.
“Those two grew up playing soccer together. We made the decision to put them together at the top of the offense this year. They do make life challenging for the other team’s back line,” Clear Fork coach Brian Kinnard said.
The Colts finally evened the score at 1-1 with 16:55 left to play on a direct kick by Neumann from just outside the Tygers’ goalie box. The kick was set up when one of the referees ruled Miller stepped over the line to slam a goalie kick after making a save against Jake Neumann.
“They were making quick restarts on free kicks all night,” Hoovler said. “We need to work on recognizing those. We were kind of out of position on that (score).”
Kinnard said his team recognized the urgency when trailed by a goal at the half.
“It’s a combination of our seniors being hungry and working harder to finish our shots,” Kinnard said. “We have been getting lots of shots. We just need to improve the quality of those shots.”
The match was a typical OCC match with physical play from both teams and three yellow cards being handed to Mansfield Senior players.
“That (physical play) is just the way we like it,” Kinnard said. “The OCC is a very physical league. We beat on each other all season and I think that helps all of us come tournament time.”
A certain amount of luck helped the Tygers escape with a tie, but Senior could have led 2-0 at the half if a ball that slammed the crossbar had been a couple of inches lower.
“That has kind of been the story of the season,” Hoovler said. “Both of our losses and the tie could have gone the other way.
“These (OCC) games are always going to be physical,” he said. “That’s when our younger guys need to step up and our older guys need to keep their composure.”
Mansfield Senior returns to its home field Thursday for a non-league game against Norwalk. Clear Fork has a week off, returning to play at Lexington next Tuesday.
