If you are looking for a dark horse boys soccer team that might pull off a surprise “sprint to the finish line” in the second region postseason, the UHA Blazers may be your pick. The Blazers stood toe-to-toe with the Madisonville Maroons Monday night before coming up just short by a score of 3-1.
The Blazers got on top in the match when Tanner Thomas took the ball down the right side and put a shot into the lower right corner of the net to give UHA an early 1-0 lead. Madisonville responded about six and a half minutes later when Zachary Brown found the ball on the rebound and put a shot into the net to even the match up at 1-1.
It was shortly after the Madisonville goal that UHA coach Mike Smith decided to make a point. Concerned over his team’s first half effort the coach substituted seven players for the last 15 minutes plus of the first half in order to get his more experienced players attention.
The move ended up serving two purposes. One, he got the attention of his starters. Two, the younger players played toe-to-toe with Madisonville for the remainder of the first half giving up only a penalty kick with 4 1/2 minutes to go in the first half. The Maroons went to the break clinging to a 2-1 lead.
In the second half, Coach Smith’s Blazers came out with a renewed vigor and went back and forth with Madisonville until the Maroons added a goal late in the contest to push out to a 3-1 lead. That goal came with 14 minutes left in the match when Patrick Parker found the goal to give the Maroons a little breathing room for the final minutes of the match. UHA had some opportunities down the stretch but could not get the ball back in the net in the final moments of the contest.
The loss drops UHA to 9-4-1, while Madisonville improves to 11-5-3.
