Monday, FHN narrowly defeated FHC 2-1 in the conference finals and became the conference champions.
Two of the best teams in the conference went head-to-head for the second time this season. The first time this game happened, the score was also 2-1 but instead in favor of FHC. This was an intense game on both sides of the ball and senior captain Matt Taylor knew just how tough of a game it would be.
“We knew it was a pretty big game,” Matt said. “It was our first chance to get some hardware this season, and obviously it’s Northern so it’s a rivalry. We beat them last time, but it was probably our closest game of the year. We knew it was going to be a tough game but it meant a lot so we were all really excited going into it.”
The game started pretty even, and there were multiple chances for both sides but no one was able to capitalize. This was until a throw-in for Northern put FHC in a familiar situation that they all remembered all too well from the last time these teams met.
A clearance attempt from FHC’s defense led to a throw-in for FHN’s captain, senior Grayson Traynor down near the goal box of FHC. Another monstrous heave led the ball down into the 6-yard box and not five seconds later, FHN had scored.
This was pretty demoralizing for FHC but Matt never gave up hope.
“We were pretty stressed being 1-0 down,” Matt said, “but we were really in the mentality that we knew we’d been here before and we knew we could battle back.”
Play continued and the teams were back at it once again. FHC was fighting hard to equalize but with no luck. The FHN defense was holding up solid and countering just as quickly as FHC was attacking. Finally, after multiple close attempts, one of these counters led to a goal. FHN led 2-0.
Head coach Paul Kramer had some thoughts about the team’s performance in the first half.
“I thought we were flat,” Kramer said. “I don’t know if it was overconfidence from beating them at their place earlier in the year. We changed some things in the second half formation-wise that I think sparked us. Obviously, Bennett’s goal was huge. I think from that point on we did a good job pouring it on them, but unfortunately, it was just a little too late. It’s just one of those things where you got to show up for the whole 80 minutes.”
The changes worked as within the first few minutes in the second half, senior winger Bennett Nieuwkoop scored to take the score FHN 2, FHC 1.
Unfortunately for FHC, this didn’t last very long as they proceeded to go the next 30 minutes without an equalizing score. This was until a free kick in the last minute gave FHC a last-minute chance to tie up the game. Kramer had a plan for this last-ditch effort.
“My plan was just flooding people into the box and giving Alex the best chance to find a target,” he said.
Alex played a wonderful ball but unfortunately, FHC couldn’t put it into the back of the net and the ball went to the hands of the keeper.
This was crushing for senior captain Will Banfield.
“We just needed to get a head on the ball,” Will said. “We really needed to crash the net. First off Alex laid a good ball in and it’s our responsibility to make sure we can get the ball in the back of the net.”
Kramer knows they have things to work on going into playoffs.
“Well first and foremost, Northern is a very good team,” Kramer said. “They were a tough task tonight so I want to give credit to them. I think for us it’s motivation from the standpoint of there’s no do-overs. I think it’s a wake-up call for the boys that the effort has to be there for the whole 80 minutes. There are no second chances so I’m glad that this didn’t happen in the playoffs and it happened here. Obviously, I wanted the Ok-white title, and I know the boys did too, but if anything we’re going to use this as a positive and motivate us going into the state playoffs.”
Matt also reflected on areas for improvement.
“We just need to keep our mental focus,” Matt said. “We can’t lose ourselves in the middle of the game because we’re down, we just got to keep grinding it out and playing our style of soccer.”
Unfortunately, this isn’t the way Will planned on ending his regular season and while the loss hurts, he knows they can’t let it stop them.
“It’s obviously not a good feeling,” Will said. “It’s a setback, bet we have to pick our heads up, and it really gives us something to make us realize that we do have stuff to work on, and something we know we have to fix so it doesn’t happen again.”
