Canby Herald Online

North Marion dismantles Gladiators in two-goal win

Flores scores three goals in win over Gladstone last week on the road

• By: John Baker  
• Published: 9/24/2009 2:58:40 PM

Those burns in the turf at Gladstone High School weren’t vandalism, they were the marks left by an offensive explosion from the North Marion boys soccer team Tuesday, Sept. 15.
The Huskies, ranked seventh in the first Class 4A poll, dispatched Gladstone 5-3 in the league opener for both teams — and it could have been worse.

The Huskies took apart the Gladstone defense, particularly in the first half and the opening moments of the second period, where they built a 4-1 lead.

“They’ve been to the state finals the last two years, so that’s a quality team,” said Husky head coach David Ellingson. “To go there and beat them on their field is pretty good.”

The quality win came courtesy of Angelo Flores’ hat trick and a pair of scores from Cahen Barlos.

Flores got the first two scores and had, according to his coach, “the best game I’ve ever seen him play. He had an outstanding game — he controlled the ball, used his speed and he’s got a great foot.”

Those attributes were on full display in the first half as Flores attacked the Gladiators box repeatedly, eventually stuffing a pair of goals into the back of the next.

Gladstone, however, wasn’t going down without a fight — at least in the first half. They got on the board late to make it 2-1 at the intermission. Unfortunately for the hosts, the first three minutes of the second half would end the match quickly.

Barlos took the ball seconds into the second half and simply dribbled in and around the defense before unloading a shot that struck the back twine to make it 3-1. less than two minutes later, Flores collected the hat trick when he took a ball nearly coast-to-coast before pushing it home.

Up 4-1, Ellingson was looking to get his bench some playing time.

“I felt we had control of the match and realistically, we did,” said Ellingson. “Three quarters of the match was played in their end. We controlled it for the most part.”

But not all of it. Gladstone showed its resiliency by battling back with two goals late to make it 4-3.
That’s when Barlos struck again with just over a minute to go.

“I don’t like to play the ‘let’s protect the lead’ game,” said Ellingson. “I think the best defense is a strong offense, so we kept pushing and Barlos got the second goal with about a minute left. He fought hard to win the ball and just battled past defenders to take the shot.”

After last week, the Huskies began focusing more on offense, something that Ellingson said paid off.

“We had a couple really good practices, focusing on offense and putting pressure on the defense,” said the coach.

Ellingson said that the play of Christian Espinoza at outside-mid was crucial. He controlled the ball and along with Eric Garcia, Alonso Caballero and Dylan Tyler, were dominant in the midfield.

“I thought we dominated the middle of the field and that was key,” said Ellingson.

Now, thoughts turn to shoring up the defense. Ellingson said he seems some issues that need work, but that’s his goal - to find areas that need work and address them.

“The offense is clicking a little more and we need to work some on defense,” he said. “That’s what we’ll address.”

LaSalle defeats Huskies 3-1: Coach Ellingson hadn’t seen anything like it - three own goals in one game.

That was the theme in Thursday’s 3-1 loss to LaSalle.

North Marion actually benefitted from the own goal epidemic first, getting on the board midway through the first half and holding a 1-0 lead through halftime.

Things change drastically in the opening 20 minutes of the second half when the Huskies committed two own goals and suddenly found themselves down 2-1.

“They were just deflections - people going one way when the ball went the other, bad timing,” said Ellingson. “Those own goals were ugly.”

Ellingson said he thought his team controlled most of the first half, but the second was more back-and-forth, with each team getting opportunities.

“They got their last goal with about two or three minutes left,” said Ellingson. “We had tried to push up and that left the defense a bit vulnerable.

“Overall, I wasn’t disappointed with our effort,” he added. “It was one of those things where it was just the way the ball bounces in sports sometimes. Sometimes it goes your way and sometimes it doesn’t.”

He did say that by beating a quality side like Gladstone and then putting out a very good effort against LaSalle, the Huskies have confirmed that they are a quality team.

The tough tests didn’t end last week. This week the Huskies take on a Stayton team that has been very impressive early on. That match is Tuesday afternoon at 4 p.m. at North Marion.
 

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