Unselfish play and control for the majority of the night led West Jones past Laurel 3-1 to stay undefeated in region play, despite a fast start by the Tornadoes who scored in the 17th minute.
“Laurel is a tough team because they are fast, fast, fast,” said West Jones boys soccer coach Josh Sullivan. “We are a quick team, but as far as the straight-line speed we are sometimes hit or miss. We knew they would high-pressure us because they were at the South [Jones] game and they did the same to us. We made adjustments and will continue to do so.”
The Tornadoes started fast as the rain drizzled down, finding seams in the West Jones defense and capitalizing on small mistakes by the Mustangs early. Laurel put the first goal on the board when senior striker Bryce Page found paydirt in the 17th minute to put Laurel up 1-0. The Page goal was only the third goal of the season given up by West Jones.
“If Bryce Page gets behind you, you’re probably not going to catch him. He’s a great athlete. Everything he does he’s good at it. It was a situation where we made a bad touch in the back and he took advantage of it,” said Sullivan about the Laurel goal.
West Jones quickly took control of the game after the Tornadoes goal, putting pressure on Laurel.
After a couple of West Jones chances that didn’t find the net, one did in the 26th minute when Joseph Hernandez found the net after an assist from Isacc Munoz to even things up 1-1.
“I told Isacc if you’ll do what you’re supposed to do and trust your guy to get you the ball back, and after that, he started distributing the ball well, said Sullivan about Munoz. “I was very pleased with his coachability tonight. That can’t be overstated enough. We had several guys like that and I was very proud.”
The Mustangs continued to control the pitch throughout, and ultimately breaking the 1-1 tie in the 52nd minute as Blayne Turner managed to find a goal after a scuffle at the net.
In the closing minutes of the contest, the third Mustang scored as Cesar Pena floated a kick past the Laurel goalie to bring the score 3-1 in favor of West Jones.
“The whole game is a team game,” said Sullivan. “I preach that and the guys have bought into it. When you play games of this caliber, the South Jones, Laurel, and Wayne County games, you can lose your mind thinking ‘you’ve gotta win, you’ve gotta win,’ but if you lose the system, the game becomes that much harder. You’re not only playing against the team, but you’re playing against yourself.”
West Jones moved to 2-0 in district play and 8-1-1 overall. Laurel falls to 4-6-1 and 0-2 in district play.
