Amherst improves to .500 with victory

Amherst controlled the middle of the field and picked up a 3-0 home win over Fairview on Sept. 11. It didn’t take long for the Comets to strike, getting a blast from junior defender Joey Yocheim

from the top right center field that went into the upper left corner of the net in the 22nd minute, assisted by senior Allen Matakovich.

The Comets held Fairview to one shot in the first half and took a 1-0 lead into halftime.

In the second half, junior midfielder Ben Biedenbach had his initial shot blocked by a Fairview defender, before bouncing back right to him and whipped it through for a 2-0 lead in the 20th minute of the half. The Comets provided the dagger with 10 minutes left when senior Xavier Potts scored from an assist by sophomore Camden Gross.

They outshot Fairview, 26-5, and improved to 3-3 (1-2 SWC).

“I was very happy with tonight in chunks and not as happy for chunks of the game,” Amherst coach Drew Biedenbach said.

“There were big periods where we were patient and possessed the ball and we were swinging it side by side. But then a period happened in the second half where all of a sudden we just wanted to send everything through. Hopefully we learn to just be patient and keep the ball. Twenty-six shots is a lot of shots, but I felt like we left a lot of goals on the table and have to finish chances.”

Yocheim and junior midfielder Bradley Kirsch were the linchpins to the Comets’ patient attack on offense in the middle of the field. Fairview (3-4, 3-0 PAC) did have its moments of battling back. But coach Dave Snow said that he knew going into Amherst would be difficult. Fairview lost a 35-goal scorer from last year in Elion Bendo, but is still staying afloat.

“We’re more of a unit,” Snow said. “Elion wasn’t the nucleus, but he was a finisher. But we have a really good core group of kids who are all working together. We don’t have a superstar this year but we have 11 kids that will hustle. This was one of the games that I scheduled where I expected not to win. Typically I’ll do two or three games where I expect not to win, two or three I might win and two to three we should win. So we’re going to be fine.”

Amherst is .500 for the first time since 2011 and can climb over it at home against reigning Southwestern Conference champion Olmsted Falls on Sept. 13.

“We just have to continue to climb that mountain,” Biedenbach added.

“I was very happy with tonight in chunks and not as happy for chunks of the game.”

— Amherst coach Drew Biedenbach