Monticello did all the things right at the start and at the finish. Chancellor simply executed on its chances in the first half and then did an outstanding job of seizing control early in the second. That resulted in a 4-1 win for the Chargers over the Mustangs.
“We were just struggling through everything early and then we got the goal and it opened up,” said Chancellor coach Mike Webb. “Once we got the ball wide, I thought we really did a good job of getting behind them.”
While Monticello was able to win the possession battle in the first 20 minutes of play, the Chargers defense forced the Mustangs outside and the Mustangs scoring opportunities sailed wide left and right as a result.
“The first 15 to 20 minutes I thought we were fine and well,” said Monticello coach Adam Southall. “But then they got a goal on us and we just didn’t quite bounce back. We didn’t find a way to fight through that adversity and then a couple mental mistakes and suddenly you find yourself down 2-0 and you’ve got a hole.”
After playing in its own end for so much of the start, Chancellor got on board with fast break goal from Colin Urquhart. Just minutes later, Cameron Williams found the top left corner of the net on a booming shot to make it 2-0 with just over 13 minutes until halftime.
“Our MO is high pressure and getting after people,” Webb said. “That’s the way we wanted to play.”
After the break, Chancellor found itself winning the 50-50 battles and keeping Monticello on its heels. The Chargers doubled their led in the first 15 minutes of the second half with a clean goal from Urquhart to start and then a rebound was punched in later by Josue Jimenez.
When things looked bleakest for Monticello after getting a yellow card, the Mustangs finished up the game playing their best soccer of the night. Lucio Valencia put the Mustangs on the board off a pass from Frankie Ahrens.
“Near the end we had some talks, some one-on-one’s with the kids and said ‘show us the heart, show us the fight’ because we weren’t seeing it.” Southall said. “The kids took it upon themselves, talked about it on the bench and made some things happen.”
But with the clock well on Chancellor’s side, the Chargers were able to lock down and close out for the win.
Monticello (0-1) heads to Spotswood on Thursdayat 7:30 p.m.
