By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
The Seaman Vikings' dominant defensive effort in Tuesday’s season-opener was spoiled by a crunchtime Emporia goal, giving the Spartans a 1-0 win at Seaman.
Seaman soccer coach Tim Nussbaum (kneeling) talks to his Vikings after Tuesday's 1-0 season-opening loss to Emporia. [Photo by Isaac Deer/TSN]
For nearly 80 minutes, Seaman was holding tight with an explosive Emporia offense.
Emporia, which was coming off of a 4-0 win against St. Marys, presented a challenge to a young Seaman team.
“That was a really good team we lost to,” Seaman coach Tim Nussbaum said. “They kept the ball from us well for a majority of the game tonight. We have to have short-term memory and get better tomorrow.”
While the offense was sparse for the Vikings, the defense was solid for both halves. Goalkeeper Ayden Thompson protected the goal in the backend giving Seaman security.
“I was impressed with what Ayden did for us today,” Nussbaum said. “He made a ton of saves for us today. We’re hoping we can help him out next game by having possession of the ball a little bit more.”
Key defensive contributions from Brandon Ruelas, Jack Pekarek and Joey Keil pushed Emporia back. The Vikings were able to make important stops in the first half that could’ve ended in goals for Emporia.
Emporia’s defense was just as superb as Seaman’s. Goalkeeper Diego Reyes led the Spartans to another shutout performance.
In the second half, Emporia changed the tempo and momentum of the game by netting a goal in a heavily trafficked box. Giovanni Garcilazo was able to successfully set up Netherlands native Mats Goerres with 14:29 to go.
“I thought we did well with possession,” Emporia coach Victor Ibarra said. “If you had to put a number out there, I think we had the advantage. A lot of our offense today was empty, in my opinion. But we did enough and thanks to the goal and the defense, we were able to take a win today.”
The one goal was all Emporia needed for the win on Tuesday and while it wasn’t necessarily the start Seaman wanted, the young team looked competitive.
Nussbaum took over as the head coach for the Seaman boys soccer team this fall. Nussbaum led the Seaman Lady Vikes to an 11-6-1 record last spring and hopes that the boys can replicate that and change their fortunes after having a struggling season last year.
“These guys are just brilliant,” Nussbaum said. “They worked hard all summer long for this program. They are getting so much better and I think with time, they’ll see all of their hard work pay off.”
Seaman will hit the road on Thursday to take on Manhattan (1-0).
EMPORIA 1, SEAMAN 0
Emporia (2-0) 0 1 – 1
Seaman (0-1) 0 0 – 0
Emporia – Goal: Goerres. Assist: Garcilazo. Shutout: Reyes.
