Valley Sports ReportATHENS — After a scoreless first half, Athens scored twice early in the second half on its way to a 2-1 win over Williamson here Wednesday afternoon in NTL boys soccer action at Alumni Stadium.
"It’s nice to be back on the winning side of things," said Athens coach Travis Reynard. "We got the result we wanted against a very tough opponent.
"The boys knew the expectation and executed it mainly in the second half," he noted. "I’ve mentioned it before, when we all work together as a team good things happen and we didn’t have that the first half.
"I have to give credit to my coaching staff for their input on changes we can make to better ourselves on the field," added Reynard. "The coaches got on the same page and so did the players and good things happened. Now, it's time to do that for the full 80 minutes."
Sophomore Caden Brennan played a through-ball from junior Patrick Umber, settled it, and fired a shot past the Williamson keeper to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead about 7 1/2 minutes into the second half.
About 2 1/2 minutes later, Umber drilled a shot from 15 yards out into the upper-90 to make it 2-0.
The Warriors closed the gap to 2-1, scoring a goal with 5 minutes remaining in the contest.
"It was missing in the first half. We couldn’t keep the ball and connect passes and constantly lost any momentum going forward," said Reynard. "The second half was a completely different story.
"We changed some things around and everyone executed their role perfectly in the attack," added Reynard. "Caden Brennan and Patrick Umber had two great goals for us, which started from the other players around them doing their jobs and those two focusing on releasing the ball and taking chances rather than doing it all themselves; that’s what we want to see more of!
Williamson had a 6-4 edge in shots-on-goal, and a 3-2 edge in corner kicks.
Senior Zach Fisher had five saves in the net for the Wildcats.
"Defensively, we held strong," said Reynard. "Our back line put in a lot of work and dealt with lots of pressure, especially in the first half.
"In the second half, our defense took control and were able to contribute to the attack and momentum," he noted. "We have to clean up our errors defensively and make sure we hold our leads when we have them and not allow the momentum to swing in favor of the opponent, especially late in games."
Athens, now 6-2, returns to action Saturday when it hosts NEB.
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IN PHOTO 1: Athens junior Patrick Umber. IN TOP PHOTO: Athens sophomore Caden Brennan. ... PHOTOS BY ZACK JOHNSON.
