Admirals advance through physical game with Southwestern

Published 10:25 pm Monday, October 17, 2016

It’s sometimes easy to forget how physical soccer can be.

Until a game like Monday’s 12th Region quarterfinal between Danville and Southwestern comes along.

The Admirals weathered a physical game from the Warriors, scoring two first half goals and riding on the backs of a strong defense and goalkeeper Claudio Rodriguez for a 2-0 win at Boyle County.

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The game had three yellow cards issued and only a slight handful of fouls, which explains at least one of the yellow cards, issued to Danville coach Brent Beauman, who was vocal in his displeasure at the lack of calls.

While Beauman was frustrated during the game with some of the non-calls, he said afterwards a physical game is what he expected after watching film from last year’s regular season matchup.

“That’s kind of been every game we played this year,” Beauman said. “That’s what we were expecting, and that’s fine. They should be used to it by now and tonight they dealt with it pretty good.”

Jeremy Schneider/jeremy.schneider@amnews.com

Jeremy Schneider/jeremy.schneider@amnews.com

He said the Ads (11-10-1) want to be more finesse than physical, based largely upon the makeup of their roster. And their skill was evident when the Ads managed to get in the open field and play with quick, one-touch passing.

“I tell them all the time, we get in these physical games because they’re holding onto the ball for too long,” Beauman said. “We have the ability to ping it around and pass, and if we would do that, they can’t be physical with you — or they shouldn’t — because you don’t have the ball.”

The Ads scored both of their goals less than a minute apart midway through the first half. Jesus Ayala gathered a rebound in front of the Southwestern net and buried his shot with 22 minutes, 22 seconds remaining in the half. Then 55 seconds later, Ethan Redmond scored from the right side for the quick 2-0 lead.

And that was all the Ads would need as the defense and Rodriguez kept Southwestern (12-8-2) at bay. The Warriors came into the game averaging 3.6 goals, led by junior Logan Dyke’s 27 goals and 11 assists.

The Warriors had more than enough chances to score, but coach Sean McBride said the Warriors didn’t adjust well to Rodriguez’s aggressive style of play. The Danville senior routinely raced well outside the box to gather in loose balls before the Warriors could get a foot on them.

“That’s something you have to adjust and we didn’t do tonight,” McBride said. “You have to play it out wide, and if you play it through, you have to play it to the corners and not allow him to come get it. We were playing it up the middle and gives him the chance to come get the ball.

“The opportunities were there. We just didn’t finish is what it comes down to.”

Danville has allowed one or fewer goals in six of its last nine games, including three shutouts.

“They worked well together in the back. We got spread at times, but the bigger field takes a little getting used to. I thought it’d be an advantage because of our passing, and at some points tonight it was and some points it was hard on us just being able to cover that space,” Beauman said.

“Most people, if you’re running one-on-one with Claudio, you’re going to think twice. He comes out hard, he’s a big body to get around. He does it fair, he does it correctly, but it’s just an intimidating thing to have him running at you.”

The Ads next face West Jessamine in a semifinal match at 6 p.m. Wednesday. The Colts beat Somerset 1-0 in Monday’s second game.

Follow Jeremy Schneider on Twitter @jschneideramn