Clark hits the mark with dart

Junior’s late goal lifts Patriots boys soccer to victory over Stone

Friday, Sept. 19, 2008

Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by GARY SMITH Northern’s Andrew Garner battles against Thomas Stone’s Alex Ortega for possession of the ball during the Patriots’ 3-2 win. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by GARY SMITH Northern teammates Casey McConkey, right, and Eric Clark try to outrace Stone’s Ryan Garvin to a loose ball.

Northern’s Eric Clark found the ball sitting at his feet 15 yards away from the goal after a throw-in escaped to the middle of the field. With one strong, lightning-quick strike, Clark gave Northern the one-goal lead as he netted the winning goal with only four minutes remaining in the contest.

‘‘I am usually the guy that sits around the outside of the box waiting for the ball to come out and then I just beam it,” Clark said. ‘‘I only get one of those [type shots] a practice, but I finally got a lucky bounce here. I was amazed really, I was really excited.”

‘‘That shot was a laser,” Northern’s Andrew Turgeon said. ‘‘I didn’t know what was going on. I was standing there and the ball just flew by me. It was great. I was just thinking that all we had to do now was play defense.”

‘‘Eric has a nice, hard shot, and he can keep [the ball] low,” Northern head coach John Rossi said. ‘‘We have been talking about him all season how he can drive [his shots] back in ankle-high. He has been trying and trying, but has not gotten the results, and tonight he got the results. It was nice to see that.”

Northern (3-1, 2-1 SMAC) knocked in an own goal that tied the game at 2-2 eight minutes before Clark’s goal and thusly caused some tense moments for the Patriots.

But after the eventual winning goal, Northern held off Stone for the final minutes.

‘‘It’s just one of those unfortunate things,” Rossi said of the own goal. ‘‘I was a little nervous after that.”

Stone (1-1, 1-1) jumped out to an early 1-0 lead as an Alex Ortega goal in the 15th minute gave it an early advantage, and also served as the Cougars’ lone scored goal on the game.

‘‘That was a great, exciting, early season game,” Stone head coach Tom Parker said. ‘‘We were hoping to score some goals, because we knew Northern would be good.”

The own goal came off a throw-in of Stone’s Ryan Garvin, as the throw reached the front of the goal, providing a 2-2 tie.

‘‘I think we should have won that game,” Garvin said, ‘‘it was just unlucky. Northern had great shots, and great center passing. They controlled the center midfield. [Team morale] is high right now. This loss was a road block but we can overcome it.”

Turgeon tied the game at 1 to go into halftime.

Kevin Voelling notched the go-ahead goal to give Northern a 2-1 lead only 2 1⁄2 minutes into the second half and the Patriots never looked back.

‘‘This was a huge win for us,” said Rossi, whose team has won its last two. ‘‘But really, this is a huge week for us. We play [a total] of five games from last Saturday until this Saturday. We played Saturday, Monday, [Wednesday], [Thursday], and Saturday again. In a lot of ways, this week is pretty much going to define our season.”