Princess Anne’s match Thursday against former conference foe Kellam wasn’t technically a must-win situation for the boys soccer team, but it sure felt much needed.
The Cavaliers were in search of a quality win to refresh their mindset after a reeling 5-1 loss Tuesday to power First Colonial.
Knocking off the undefeated Knights to end its three-game losing streak restored Princess Anne’s mojo.
Cavaliers’ Chase Battafarano headed in the game-winning goal inside the left post past Kellam goalkeeper Jamison Auer in the 71st minute to propel Princess Anne to a 2-1 comeback victory.
“It was important,” Princess Anne coach Blair Ferguson said of rebounding after Tuesday’s loss. “(The team) got down a little bit. But we came out shoulders up, chest out and took these guys on and competed, which was the biggest thing for us.”
Princess Anne (2-4) trailed 1-0 at halftime after failing to generate decent looks at the net despite possessing well. Ferguson’s halftime chat about keeping consistent pressure in attack resulted in a much more aggressive Cavaliers group that controlled midfield and created nearly double the scoring opportunities from the first half.
In the 51st minute, the Cavaliers front-line pressure took advantage off a bad clear from Auer in the box, when Tim Olukanni picked off the pass and rifled a point-blank shot to even the score at 1-1.
Battafarano’s header was set up off a cross feed from the right flank that caught Kellam’s back line off guard.
“We built better from the middle third to final third and attacked down the flanks with pressure,” Ferguson said.
Despite the few defensive lapses that resulted in goals for the Cavaliers, the Knights controlled the pace of the game in the second half with longer possession and more scoring chances.
Kellam’s (4-1-1) offense kept cracking at Cavaliers goalie Duncan Wrenn for the majority of the game’s final 20 minutes but never broke through Wrenn’s brilliance in the box.
The Knights rained 10 shots in the second half, eight on goal, five in the final five minutes. Wrenn got a hand or two on nearly all of them, including a few “SportsCenter” highlight saves on what looked like would-be routine goals.
Wrenn’s lone miss in the first half wasn’t necessarily his fault as much as it was an excellent play from Kellam’s Jared Greene, who scored his eighth goal of the season by sliding a grounder shot to the left corner post past a laid-out Wrenn.
Wrenn finished with eight saves to Auer’s four.
“I told Duncan before the game that he will be the difference in the match tonight,” Ferguson said. “He did a really good job of taking flighted balls out of the air. I felt like he owned the box. He’s a leader and from his energy we channel good stuff.”
Kellam out-shot Princess Anne 16-6 and generated more corners (7-2).
Ferguson hopes Thursday’s jolt of confidence carries into a streak his boys can build in the final weeks of non-conference play.
“We were able to put a bad loss behind us and compete for a win,” he said. “Now what we do going into the conference (schedule) is paramount.”
