Mentor vs. Madison boys soccer: Cardinals smooth in rare appearance on grass for 4-1 win
Aug. 12—Mentor doesn't often play matches on grass anymore in this day and age.
So when the Cardinals trekked east Aug. 12 for take on Madison as part of "Friday Night Futbol," it was reasonable to wonder how the acclimation would go.
At the full-time whistle, it was clear the answer was, "Just fine, thank you very much."
Cody Rastall netted a brace, with a goal in each half, and Mentor looked first-class in its attacking flow in its 2022 lidlifter as it recorded a 4-1 win over the Blue Streaks.
The Cardinals (1-0) had intent and off-ball purpose from the outset, with nine shots on target and set-piece danger, pleasing sights for Coach Michael Sesar.
"Yeah, I was happy with just the way our midfield held together — the aggressiveness, the way they moved the ball really quickly when possession changed," Sesar said. "And then, we have some really quick forwards that can take advantage of those opportunities. Then our outside backs got into the play really well. Rudy Reilly had a great game on the outside. He's a junior — intelligent with a high soccer IQ.
"And we moved the ball into the gaps they gave us. We kind of sucked them out, and we were off to the races and created a bunch of chances."
Evan Yurkovich opened his side's account in the 11th minute. The junior, who had a tremendous workrate match up top, hit what was clearly intended to be a cross for Rastall far post. Instead, though, it became a bender side net for a 1-0 lead.
#NHsoccer Evan Yurkovich discusses Mentor's 4-1 Friday Night Futbol win at Madison
Thought he had a really nice workrate match & was dangerous 1v1 turning the corner & getting to his left foot pic.twitter.com/Ah3jvpYnjL
— Chris Lillstrung (@CLillstrungNH) August 13, 2022
Rastall contributed the second in the 36th. The standout junior striker curled a free kick far post to put the Cardinals up, 2-0.
Then in the 50th, Nikola Buntic served a gorgeous free kick in that rattled the crossbar, came down and Rastall took care of the rebound for his side's third.
#NHsoccer Mentor 3-0
Cody Rastall header follow on the Nikola Buntic free kick bar rattler from distance 50th min pic.twitter.com/CnQhFCu6NG
— Chris Lillstrung (@CLillstrungNH) August 13, 2022
"On the free kick, I saw the wall was pushed over to the left a little bit," Rastall said. "So I saw the front post and I tried to curl it front post.
"(Playing on grass) is a lot harder, because we're used to playing turf all the time. And then coming to grass that's a lot more thicker, it's more of a challenge for us."
Madison (0-1) got a penalty kick in the 51st minute, and Andrew Rusnak put his side on the board with a wall-taken strike upper-90 to the right corner to make it a 3-1 match.
#NHsoccer Madison gets Andrew Rusnak PK in 51st
3-1 Mentor pic.twitter.com/kk1lCEC3b0
— Chris Lillstrung (@CLillstrungNH) August 13, 2022
Dominic Bistak delivered the final margin at the hour mark with a nice bit of ball skill and finish from the top of the box.
It's early, but Mentor is bullish on its prospects in a new-look attack as the fall commences.
"It helps with our new formation, we get a lot more through balls for us to run onto," Rastall said. "So that definitely helps us a lot more."
