Patriots down Raiders

Clark nets hat trick in victory for boys soccer team

Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2009

Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by DARWIN WEIGEL Northern's Eric Clark scored a natural hat trick on Thursday. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story

It's difficult to imagine that just the second game of a team's season could have so much meaning, but that seems to be exactly the case after Northern's convincing 4-1 win over visiting Leonardtown on Thursday.

The Patriots (2-0, 2-0 SMAC), who are the defending Southern Maryland Athletic Conference champions, picked up the big win over always-tough Leonardtown. And in the process served notice that maybe they're just not ready to give up their conference crown.

"Oh yeah, definitely," Northern head coach John Rossi said when asked if a team's second game of the season can be a big one. "It's always nice with a big rivalry against Leonardtown. Our guys played hard tonight and got a good win early in the season."

"It really gives us confidence," said Northern senior Eric Clark, who scored a natural hat trick, "because Leonardtown, they have a good team and a lot of depth."

The Raiders may have a lot of depth, but there wasn't much they could do against Clark, who was a one-man wrecking crew against the visitors.

Clark opened the scoring in the 31st minute and put Northern ahead 2-0 at halftime after he buried a penalty kick in extra time.

Clark completed the hat trick with the goal of the night in the 50th minute. He stepped in front of a clearing pass, beat two defenders and dribbled around Leonardtown keeper Daniel Erk before sliding the ball in.

"I wasn't really expecting it but the ball just came," he said. "I was just trying to find space to get away from the defender and another guy came."

"He plays more of a defensive role on this team, but he kind of picks where he chooses to push forward and he makes wise decisions," Rossi said. "And he really strikes the ball hard, one of the hardest I've seen. If there's any college coaches out there, they should definitely be looking at him because I don't know many better than him."

Leonardtown coach Matt Reber said that covering Clark isn't easy because Northern has so many weapons.

"I think [Clark] is good, but they have lots of guys. It's not just him," Reber said, and then listed several Patriots. "I think Clark's good, but he's got a good supporting cast."

Dane Slavin scored Northern's final goal in the 52nd minute before Ryan Vanderwest put Leonardtown on the board seven minutes later.

While Clark was taking care of the offensive duties, Northern sophomore goalkeeper Ryan Welp was doing his part on the defensive end.

Welp, who was making his first varsity start in net, admitted to having a case of the nerves before kickoff.

"I was definitely shaking at first," he admitted. "During the warm-ups, I was dropping some [shots]."

The game itself was a different matter. Welp made several big stops early, including a breakaway attempt by Brendan Powell. Welp finished with seven saves, including four in the first half.

"We're blessed to have two great goaltenders who work hard every day together," Rossi said, referring to Welp and Chris Glasgow, who made six saves in a season-opening win over Thomas Stone last Tuesday. "[Welp] was a little nervous because he's so young and throwing him out in such a big game but he really stepped up. [After the breakaway], I felt a little more at ease with him back there. I'm just so proud of him and the rest of the guys for stepping up the way they did today."

Erk also made seven saves, including four in the first half.

"He made some unbelievable saves," Reber said.

Leonardtown (0-1, 0-1), which had its only scrimmage cancelled, was playing its first game as a team. Nevertheless, Reber admitted there is still plenty to fine-tune.

"I think we have a lot of work to do," he said. "Defensively we're not as solid as we need to be. It really is [hard to cover them] when they go forward in numbers. We weren't able to counter as much."

Reber said his team will go back to the drawing board and iron out some kinks in its game.

"I think we go back to the practice field and we sure up the communication between the defense and the midfield and cover the flanks more; they got outside on us a lot," he said. "[There were also] a couple holes defensively. I think the midfield-defensive relationship is what we need to work on and tighten up."

In the Patriots' camp, Rossi said the win is a big one, but his team needs to be looking ahead to its next match.

"We just have to celebrate the win tonight," he said. "It's always good to beat Leonardtown, but tomorrow we have to get refocused."

"I think we have a lot of potential," Clark said. "We have a lot of depth as well. We had a lot of subs [come in] but we still kept up the pressure and the pace."

mreid@somdnews.com

Results Northern 4, Leonardtown 1

Leonardtown 0 1

Northern 2 2

Goals: Leonardtown

(Vanderwest); Northern

(Clark 3, Slavin)

Saves: Leonardtown (Erk 7), Northern (Welp 7)