Lions top Pirates 3-1
Sep. 20—GREENSBURG — The Pirates played host to conference foe Rushville on Saturday in the annual Battle for the Ball game.
After losing the trophy last year, the Lions were able to return to town with the trophy this year with a 3-1 victory. This was the first action for Greensburg since Aug. 24.
Goals for the Lions came from Aritz Gomez (2) and Carter Tague (1). Two assists were made by Ben Means.
Even though this was the Lions fourth game this week, the Lions came out quick scoring two goals in the first 12 minutes. Means soared a free kick from the Lions' back line over the Greensburg defense allowing Tague to use his speed to get the Lions out to a 1-0 lead. The Lions kept attacking and seven minutes later, Gomez fired a shot in the Greensburg penalty box to make it 2-0. Both teams battled back and forth, but the score remained the same going into the half.
Coach Wagner said, "Our defense played well and our center defensive midfielders marked Greensburg's key players well. Brody Miller had an excellent game at left back and Nick Durand and Jacob Hampton made sure to lock down the Greensburg players from getting long shots on the edge of our penalty box."
The second half saw more of the back and forth action with the scoring not happening until the end of the game. With six minutes left, Means made another nice pass to Gomez who scored Rushville's final goal of the day. A free kick from senior Grayson Newhart just outside of Rushville's penalty box with two minutes left allowed Greensburg to avoid the shutout.
Coach Wagner said, "Playing four games in a week is really hard. The hot temperature today didn't make it any easier. We rotated a lot of players in and some guys played positions they don't normally play. I was impressed with how we adapted and played as a unit."
Contact Aaron Kirchoff at aaron.kirchoff@greensburgdailynews.com
