GK Martin on point in Leps’ 4-1 at Connellsville
John F. Brothers | Herald-Standard
Belle Vernon’s Tyler Chiste (14) controls the ball during a non-section soccer match at Falcon Stadium in Connellsville.
John F. Brothers | Herald-Standard
Connellsville’ Griffin Prinkey (6) plays the ball off his knee during the the Falcons’ non-section match against Belle Vernon Wednesday at Falcon Stadium in Connellsville.
Connellsville's Jacob Rice (5) and Belle Vernon's Mark Lovett (21) chase the ball across the field during Wednesday's non-section match at Falcon Stadium in Connellsville.
Belle Vernon's Daniel Mraz (13) and Connellsville Zach Traynor (12) both try for control of a loose ball during Wednesday's non-section match at Falcon Stadium in Connellsville.
Connellsville's J.T. Shipley (8) maneuvers the ball upfield past Belle Vernon's Ryan Popovec (16) during Wednesday's non-section match at Falcon Stadium.
CONNELLSVILLE — Leopards goalie Jake Martin was on point Wednesday evening in Belle Vernon’s 4-1 non-section victory at Connellsville.
Martin, a Belle Vernon junior, allowed just one of the Falcons’ 10 shots on goal into the net, giving him nine saves in the game.
“He (Martin) is a really good goaltender. He played defense last year and I moved him into goal this year and he’s phenomenal,” praised Belle Vernon coach John Kerekes. “He’s one of our best players.”
Connellsville maintained control of the ball at the beginning of the game, but the Leopards used the shoe of their keeper (Martin) to send the ball to the other side of the field when the Falcons got too close to the net.
Belle Vernon junior Tyler Chiste took the ball downfield just after the 33:00 mark and assisted sophomore teammate Tommy Rodriguez’s goal at 32:37.
Freshman Jackson Guess scored just over 10 minutes later at 22:23, making the score 2-0 for the Leopards.
The two teams battled for control of the ball after Belle Vernon’s second goal, until Connellsville junior Alex Peperak scored the Falcons’ lone goal on an assist from sophomore Jacob Rice with 13:59 left in the first half.
The Leopards countered with their third goal of the game from senior captain Jimmy Yantko at 6:18.
Chiste scored Belle Vernon’s fourth and final goal just under three minutes later with 3:31 left in the half.
Connellsville’s Rice was red carded, most likely for dissent during the second half, unhappy after a call made by the referees.
With an otherwise uneventful and scoreless second half, the Leopards maintained the first-half advantage for the win.
“I thought we played really well. We’ve been having problems scoring goals, so today was a big change for us,” Kerekes said. “This is our second game in the past two days. We played yesterday and have another game tomorrow, and so I got a lot of kids in, got to rest some kids. It was a good game.”
“I hope we can continue to put the ball in the back of the net the same way we did tonight. If we can do that we’re going to have a really good season.”
Senior Isaiah Engstrom was excited over his team’s win, adding, “We (the team) have a saying. ‘You’ve got to take the training wheels off.’ It’s the team’s way of saying that you have to step up and work harder. We took the training wheels off tonight.”
Connellsville coach Jason Rice was unavailable for comment after the match.
The Falcons (2-2-0, 0-1-0) return to Section 1-AAA action tonight on the road at Penn-Trafford. The Leopards (3-1-1, 1-0-1) play at South Park at 3:30 p.m. in a Section 3-AA match.