Easton bounces back, bounces Parkland

FROM THE MORNING CALL

Like night and day.

Easton played the first half of its District 11 3A quarterfinal playoff game at Parkland like the Red Rovers were intent upon completing their season. After intermission, however, the visitors played like a team that didn't want to go home anytime soon.

And in the end, Easton's second-half effort far outweighed its first, carrying the Rovers to a 3-1 victory and a spot in next Tuesday's district semifinals.

Fourth-seeded Parkland wasted little time in grabbing a 1-0 lead as Michael Ottinger turned on a ball deep in Easton's defensive sector, blasting a low shot past Rovers keeper Luke Farrell just 5:13 into the opening half.



From there, the Trojans (13-6-1) dominated play through intermission, outshooting its guests by a 7-2 margin and using solid passing accuracy to keep Easton in its half of the field 90 percent of the time.

Come halftime, Easton coach Tim Hall — to put it mildly — read his team the riot act.

"He basically told us we were screwing up our senior year, and we shouldn't have let it get to that point," said senior Ryan Davie, who scored two goals and assisted on the third. "He really fired us up, I think, really got us intense, and we picked up our game in the second half."

Hall admitted to making one key strategic adjustment, but for the most part, his plea was to the No. 5 Rovers' collective consciences.

"Obviously, Parkland was clearly the better team in the first half," Hall said. "We had a not-so-pleasant talk at halftime about character and heart.

"Basically, I called them out, and they could have quit or they could have responded," he added. "Obviously, they responded. We made one tactical adjustment; the rest was kicking them in the rear."

Davie pulled the Rovers even with 35:52 remaining on a nice angle run that put him behind the Trojan defense, buying enough time to send a shot rocketing into the right corner.

"On their first goal, [Gabe Robinson], who's an outstanding player, hustled his tail off to save a ball that was right on the sideline, chipped it forward, and in they go," explained Parkland coach Chris Bleam. "It's all about work, and they played very inspired in the second half."

Easton posted the game-winning goal on the visitors' lone corner kick as Davie sent a ball across the heart of the goal mouth to teammate Billy Bryson for a head-ball connection past Parkland keeper Brandon Krum with 13:48 on the clock.

The Trojans spent much of the rest of regulation frantically trying to put scoring plays together, with Ottinger and senior teammates Ali Famili and Aner Barav leading the way, but a quick change of direction saw Davie collect a pass from Alejandro Pascual for a clinching score with 1:50 remaining.

"This one's huge for us," Davie said. "I've been playing varsity for four years and I've yet to beat Parkland until today. They're a fantastic soccer program."

But on this day, Easton (14-5-1), which had dropped a 2-1 regular season decision to the visiting Trojans, kept its season alive while ending Parkland's.

"They tackled harder. They ran through us. They ran over us," Bleam noted. "We had one ball go off the side of the post. We had one ball go off the post and to the goalkeeper. We were a bit unfortunate there.

"I thought we played well, but they played a little better than we did," he added. "The bottom line, the thing they did better was they went through the ball."


Easton0 3-3

Parkland1 0-1

E goals: Ryan Davie 2, Billy Bryson. Assists: Davie, Gabe Robinson, Alejandro Pascual. Shots: 7. Corners: 1. Saves: Luke Farrell 6.

P goal: Michael Ottinger. Shots: 12. Corners: 5. Saves: Brandon Krum 3.

http://www.mcall.com/sports/varsity/mc-soccer-1029-20101029,0,3390501.story