The THS Soccer Dogs defeated the A.R. Johnson Panthers in overtime Wednesday by a score of 4-2.
Thomson dominated the first half of the game, keeping the ball in the Panthers’ end of the field for most of the half. The ‘Dogs went ahead early in the game when Marquis Cook sent the ball into the net approximately five minutes into the first half. The scored stood at 1-0 through much of the remainder of the half until Cook scored again with less than 10 minutes remaining to give Thomson a 2-0 lead going into the half time break.
“Let’s get it and end it,” head coach Zack Tucker told his team during the break. “We need to get this shut-out,” added assistant coach Brad Adams.
A shut-out wasn’t in the cards, however, as the Panthers sent the ball into the net approximately 10 minutes into the second half, and followed up with a second goal eight minutes later to tie the game at 2-2. With time running out, A.R. Johnson received a penalty kick that set them up to take the lead. A well-placed kick by the Panthers got the ball past the wall, but Thomson’s Jordan Floyd threw his body in front of the ball to save the goal and the game went into overtime.
“We definitely came out flat in the second half,” Tucker said after the game. “Jordan (Floyd) saved it for us at the end of the half, though.
A.R. Johnson’s best player made a perfect kick on the PK, an absolutely beautiful kick, and Jordan put himself in front of it and he stopped it with his body, and I mean he stopped it hard.”
Over-time meant the two teams had to play two more five-minute halves.
“We have 10 minutes,” Tucker told his team. “Get it done.”
As so often happens in sports, a player follows a strong defensive play with a strong offensive one, and that maxim held true as
the Dogs went into over-time.
Just two minutes into the first over-time half, the ball deflected off a player and went into the corner, where Floyd settled it and sent a perfect curving kick around the A.R. Johnson goalie and into the corner of the net to score and put Thomson ahead.
“That was my first goal of the season,” Floyd said after the game.
“But it won’t be my last. I can’t take all the credit, though. It’s a team sport and it took a team effort to win tonight. I’m just glad I was able to get that goal, though.”
Thomson added one more to their score when Marquis Cook got his third goal of the night, putting Thomson up by two. Strong defense held the Panthers scoreless in over-time and Thomson got the win with the score at 4-2.
“Our guys gave me a scare in the second half,” Tucker said.
“The definitely came out lackluster and flat in the second. But I give them all the credit for coming in strong in the over-time and shutting them down. They started playing like we had in the first half, which was a dominant performance. That was Cook’s third hat-trick for the season, and I believe he’s scored 16 for us this season, which is great. I know a couple of schools are looking at him, and I’m looking forward to seeing what he accomplishes in the future.”
