Indian Creek’s Caiden Flora, right, is chased by Greenwood’s Dominic Barlow during Thursday’s match.
Chris Williams | For the Daily Journal
Greenwood’s boys soccer team had a full week to lick its wounds after a 5-0 loss to Plainfield last week. The Woodmen appeared to be fully healed on Thursday evening.
Freshman Jose Moreno scored three goals, including one in the second minute of play, to set the tone in a 7-0 triumph over fledgling county rival Indian Creek.
“The last two games were rough, against stronger opposition,” Greenwood coach Dan Priscu said. “The first one (a 2-1 defeat against New Palestine) was well fought; the second one, we were rattled. This was a much better coming together, and we had a lot of work we did in practice in trying to make things present today that weren’t present the last two games.”
The Woodmen (5-6-1) needed just 74 seconds to draw first blood, getting deep into the Indian Creek third of the field. The ball got through to the left side of the goal, where Moreno was waiting on the doorstep to punch it in.
Indian Creek (4-5-1) kept the deficit at one through the first 20 minutes, thanks in part to some outstanding saves by goalkeeper Nick Jackson, before Greenwood finally broke through again in the 21st. Landon Holt made a run toward the goal and caught a loose ball in stride, putting it away from the right side to make it a 2-0 game.
Moreno added a second goal in the 30th minute. Patrick Branch was able to poke the ball away from Jackson before the Braves’ goalie got control of it, and Moreno was again in position to knock it home when it came across the goal mouth.
With Jackson knocked out of the game by a first-half injury, Greenwood was able to get some more separation in the second half. Gavin Armstrong found the back of the net in the 50th minute, and Fabian Martin triggered a running clock by making it 5-0 with just over 26 minutes remaining. Freshman Emmanuel Jackson put one in three minutes later, and Moreno closed the scoring with about 13 minutes to go.
Priscu is pleased with how things are coming together as the sectional approaches, but he says that more work remains between now and that first week of October.
“We have that talent we knew was going to be sticking together all season,” he said. “It was more figuring out what is the best way with the weapons that we have, and these last three games are absolutely crucial to us still figuring that out.”
The Braves, meanwhile, are in a different position, playing just their second season of soccer and their first against a full varsity schedule. While Thursday’s result didn’t look pretty, coach Jeff Smeltzer believes his squad is heading in the right direction.
With a 3-1 record so far against potential sectional opponents, there’s plenty of reason for optimism.
“The boys are doing great,” he said. “We’ve played some bigger schools this year, and with that comes harder competition, and they’ve done well with it. We’re 4-2 in conference … I’m very happy with the way they’ve done and progressed. And the thing is, we only have three seniors — so we’re coming back with everybody back next year, with a big group of seniors.”
