Tandem Friends’ Matt Mahoney just didn’t realize quite how far out he was.
“I thought I was about 10 yards closer than I actually was,” Mahoney said. “So I shot it and then looked up and I was like, ‘oh, I was way too far out to be shooting that.”
The shot from at least 40 yards out curled into the top right corner of the goal and gave the Badgers a two-goal lead late in the first half. From there, Tandem managed to hold on, knocking off Covenant 2-1 to grab a road win.
Surprisingly, Mahoney’s long-range strike didn’t draw any criticism from his coach.
“Seriously, I tell him all the time — he has a cannon in his leg, just use it — use it,” said Badgers coach Mariano Alonso.
Mahoney actually had a hand in the Badgers first goal too, finding Ollie Tennant on a short pass for a goal with 11 minutes left in the second half. That score, rather than the long-range missile, more fits Tandem’s offensive style.
“Our offense is basically we’re all about short, one or two touch playing,” Mahoney said. “Just quick passing — no one holds the ball for very long.”
Covenant quickly counter attacked after the Tennant goal, barely missing a chance for the equalizer. But Tandem’s defense regrouped after that and held the Eagles scoreless until the early second half, after Mahoney had given the Badgers a 2-0 advantage.
Nic Weber connected with William Gibson for Covenant’s lone goal, but the Eagles continued to threaten throughout the second half, particularly late in the contest on set pieces off corner kicks. Tandem’s keeper Christopher Bender continued to come up with clutch saves though, including a tip save at the 20-minute mark that saved an apparent goal. He was also instrumental to shutting down a couple of corners in the last three minutes.
Covenant was coming off a 3-2 win over Fork Union Tuesday where Gibson scored a pair of goals and Ryan Winkler knocked in another one. The Eagles couldn’t manage to sustain the momentum from that win on Wednesday.
“We just came out flat and slow,” said Covenant’s Bryan Verbrugge. “It’s frustrating to watch that and we made some adjustments at the half and we were a different team in the second half. But it’s hard to fight back when you give up two goals early.”
