Ravens Drop Home Match to Mepo

Sometimes it seems the key point of the game takes place before the match when the officials flip the coin and the visiting captain correctly calls “tails.” With strong winds blowing from the north to the south goal, whoever ever had the wind at their backs would have a decided advantage.

As play opened, Mediapolis took advantage of the wind keeping the ball in their half while trying to generate shots. Playing in the middle, Noah Miller and Eli Ours did an excellent job containing and frustrating the Mediapolis offense. Facing a lot of pressure from numerous long balls, the back line of Grant Bender, Aaron Hershberger and Aidan Yoder thwarted numerous chances. Aiden Krabill notched six saves on the night, gathering in most of them in the first half. With the strong wind gusts, Hillcrest dropped an extra player into the midfield to try to limit chances. It almost worked as Mediapolis was kept from scoring until there was only 1 minute left in the half when a shot bounced right in front of the keeper and squirted into the net.

The wind continued to blow as the second half opened but then died down and switched to more of a crosswind. Hillcrest used what they could, generating the majority of their shots in the second half. Johnny Diaz, Will Kolck and John Hughes created several chances along with midfielders Dominic Bouse, Collin Miller and Andrew Starr, but found it difficult to break down the defense to get off a good shot. As the clock ticked down, Hillcrest pushed more players forward, earning a corner kick in the closing seconds but finding a goal proved impossible.

Hillcrest drops to 2-3 overall and 1-3 in the conference. Hillcrest returns to action next Friday, traveling to Wapello, Friday May 7, then hosting Tipton at home Saturday at 2:00 pm