The Achilles heel of the Mingus Union High School boys soccer team this season has been on defense, again being a key factor in the Marauders’ 3-1 loss to visiting Estrella Foothills High School on Tuesday, Dec. 13.
Mingus, which fell to 0-4-1 on the season, showed bright spots at times offensively, but struggled to consistently create quality opportunities to score.
“We’re not possessing the ball, from the midfield all the way back to the defense; our passing is so poor right now that we can’t even string together three or four passes to get an offense going,” Marauder head coach Calvin Behlow said.
The closest the Marauders would come to scoring in the first half came in the 14th minute. Sophomore midfielder Jovany Garcia played a through ball down the left side for junior forward Ezekiel Behlow, who rattled his shot of the left post.
Ten minutes later, Behlow again found the ball headed his way with space in front of him, but overran the ball.
The visiting Wolves took advantage of the missed opportunity just one minute later.
Estrella Foothills junior forward Marco Vasquez fired in a hard right-footed shot from 16 yards out after the Mingus defense was unable to clear the ball.
“Soccer has that emotional effect where you miss a shot off a bar, and then they score,” Calvin Behlow said. “They score just because there’s that adrenaline push for them and you’re at a low like ‘Ah, we should’ve got that.’”
It was a consistent theme throughout the game: The Marauders struggled to possess the ball. They would win the ball, complete a couple of passes, but when it came to advancing down the field, the play would dissolve, forcing them to defend once again.
“We’ve got quality passes and they’re good and everything, they’re just not going to our own team, and that’s killing us,” Ezekiel Behlow said. “Because everyone is anticipating to go forward, the pass goes bad and everyone’s on defense now.”
Vasquez scored once more before halftime.
He received a pass running to his right inside the penalty box, and turned in his shot low to Mingus junior goalkeeper Andrew Kulis’ left from a bad angle.
Mingus has given up 14 goals in five games so far this season with only five scored.
“We’re giving up too many goals,” Calvin Behlow said. “Every game — three goals, two goals, three goals; it’s hard to win soccer games giving up three goals.”
In the second half, Estrella Foothills struck once more.
Wolves junior midfielder Seth Erdman found himself on a two-on-one breakaway and spotted Kulis creeping out of his goal. With his right foot he sent the ball high into the left corner.
The Marauders eventually found the back of the net with five minutes left.
Junior midfielder Kevin Ornelias received a long ball from the midfield and touched the ball behind the defense.
Wolves goalkeeper Eric Vasques came off his line where the ball deflected off of him and fell back to Ornelias, who tapped the ball into the open net.
For the game, Mingus changed its formation in order to create more offense, Behlow said, but Estrella Foothills doubled the amount of total shots, 14 to seven, and shots on target, six to three.
Marauder senior captain Devyn Spitzke reinforced the Behlows’ thoughts: “We have to stop passing the ball the to other team.”
Mingus now has some much needed time to recover, according to Calvin Behlow, who said that he has players playing through injuries, and mentally need a break too.
The Marauders will take the field again at 5 p.m., Jan. 5 at home against Mohave High School.
