By James Howell Jr. | For Daily Reporter
FORTVILLE — The New Palestine Dragons visited the Mt. Vernon Marauders on Tuesday night for an important Hoosier Heritage Conference match.
The aggression shown by the Dragons was enough to outmatch the host Marauders’ (4-2, 2-1 HHC) precision, 2-0.
The Dragons (2-4, 1-1 HHC) aggressive style of play was evident early on as they took their first shot on goal within the first 16 seconds of action.
Immediately following a change of possession, New Palestine sophomore Elliott Canova put the ball down, aimed and fired.
The shot was blocked, along with another shot on goal by Cody Crawmer in the third minute.
“That’s what we always bring. Pace and aggression,” Dragons head coach Brett Canova said. “Yeah, we are tired at the end of the game, but if we are aggressive enough like we were early on tonight, you can afford to be a little tired.”
The Marauders were more methodical with their movement up the field offensively. When they found holes, they bought themselves multiple attempts at scoring in the first half.
Notably, senior Tyler Webb took a shot that was just centimeters from hitting the net as it drilled off the crossbar and back into play. Before the Marauders could get a second chance, the Dragons cleared the ball.
With the Marauders’ opportunity lost at putting the first goal on the board, the Dragons went back to work with a sense of urgency.
In the 31st minute Canova put another shot on goal, but his attempt was initially blocked by Marauders goalkeeper Bryce Glazier.
However, Glazier was unable to hold onto the ball off the block and New Palestine’s sophomore Cohen Wintin capitalized with a put back.
The Dragons used that goal for a 1-0 advantage at the halftime break.
The teams played fairly even in the second half, matching each other with seven attempted shots.
The Dragons were the only team able to find the net in the half, however. Elliott Canova continued his aggressive work offensively by netting a goal in the 60th minute from more than 25 yards out.
With the two-goal cushion, the Dragons earned the right to let off the gas a little bit and fall back defensively.
With 10 players back, the Marauders were unable to penetrate the Dragons defense for more than two shots in the final 20 minutes.
“Maximum effort is what we look for as a team,” Dragons coach Canova said. “When we give as much effort as we did tonight, we can do things like we did tonight. Proud of them.”
For the Marauders, the team will use Tuesday night’s loss and look to turn it into a positive.
“The goal is to use this as motivation moving forward,” Marauders head coach Matt Mayhew said. “It’s never fun losing on your home field like that, but it happens. What you do with the loss is what matters. We have two more big conference games to prepare for now.”
Mt. Vernon won the junior varsity match on Tuesday night, 3-1.
The Marauders host Yorktown on Thursday. The Dragons have a full week off before their next match at New Castle.
