OP boys soccer’s 10-game streak snapped by Bobcats

BY HUGH RIST For the News & Messenger
Published: May 13, 2008

Osbourn Park boys’ soccer coach Larry Nemerow said he couldn’t remember the last time the Yellow Jackets had lost a Cedar Run District soccer game.

Unfortunately for Nemerow, it isn’t likely he will forget Tuesday night’s 3-1 district loss to Bat-tlefield anytime soon. Not only did it snap a 10-game winning streak, it forced the Yellow Jackets to beat Osbourn tonight just to have a shot at a three-way tie for first place. Otherwise, Osbourn Park will find itself in very unfamiliar territory—third place in the Cedar Run District.

After outshooting the Bobcats 10-3 in the first half, Osbourn Park shot off its mouths more than the ball in the second half, and Battlefield snapped a 1-1 tie with two goals in the final four minutes of the game.

While both teams were physical and feisty, Osbourn Park drew a lion’s share of the cards from the referee, including a red card to Matthew Scott in the 60th minute that left the Yellow Jackets a player short the rest of the way and cost them one of their better players for tonight’s district finale at Osbourn.

Nemerow said losing Scott was not as big of a blow as the team’s losing its composure.

“When you coach the referee instead of each other, you aren’t going to win many games,” Ne-merow said. “We have to find a way to talk to each other on the field and not the referee. I think Battlefield decided to wait for us to make mistakes, and given the results, that was probably a good strategy. Not only is the referee a good ref, but he reffed a good game and you can quote me on that.”

In the first half, Osbourn Park (5-1, 11-2-2) peppered goalkeeper Alan Hinton with shots, but the Battlefield sophomore made several saves, including one diving save and two leaping saves. One save he did not make happened early in the game when sophomore midfielder Drew Ruggles di-rected an indirect kick toward Paul Messier at the right corner of the goal box and Messier headed it into the left corner of the goal to give the Yellow Jackets a 1-0 lead.

Battlefield (5-1, 12-2) scored on a similar-type goal when senior midfielder Thomas Mayhugh an-gled an indirect kick toward Duke Mensah, who headed it into the right corner of the net to tie the game at 1-1 in the 35th minute.

In the second half, the Bobcats increased their intensity as well as their physical play, much to the chagrin of Osbourn Park. The result was six cards, four to the Yellow Jackets and two to the Bobcats. Battlefield, who outshot the Yellow Jackets 9-7 in the second half, missed several opportu-nities as Mayhugh overshot the goal twice and sent two shots out of bounds.

But in the 78th minute, Battlefield’s Frank Buzzalino passed to a sprinting Adam Clements on the right wing, and the sophomore forward blasted the ball into the right corner of the goal to give the Bobcats a 2-1 lead.

Still short a player, Osbourn Park tried frantically to tie and the result was a somewhat sloppy sequence that enabled Buzzalino to get the ball again and then beat Yellow Jackets goalkeeper Joey Dennis from the right corner of the goal box to make it 3-1.

Battlefield coach Ott Pimsaen said the one-man advantage gave the Bobcats the lift they needed in the second half.

“They (Osbourn Park) definitely took it to us (offensively) in the first half, but we knew they would,” Pimsaen said. “We weren’t winning 50-50 balls and were kind of sluggish. In the second half, we started playing more competitive. Winning a game like this shows us what we can do when we come prepared to play. Last time we played Osbourn Park we had an unbeaten record and I think we were trying to live off our record. We weren’t ready mentally and it showed. Tonight we showed what happens when we were able to finish our shots.”

Nemerow said a familiar theme continued for Osbourn Park as the Yellow Jackets managed a large amount of shots, but could put few in the goal.

“Most teams get very few chances in a game, but execute on a couple of them,” Nemerow said. “We get 20-30 chances, but can only put one in the goal. We’ve dealt with that all season. Unfortu-nately, tonight we got beat by our mouths more than our lack of execution. We had chances to score, but couldn’t finish. The kids are learning what to do and what not to do. Tonight they learned not to coach the referee because if you do you won’t win too many games.”