Mavericks roll to county title
Eastern Tech scores three goals in second half to claim Baltimore County crown
The Eastern Tech boys soccer team won its second straight Baltimore County District VI championship over No. 7 Towson on Tuesday night, and, unlike last year, the No. 4 Mavericks made sure they ended the game in regulation.
The Mavericks (12-1-1) scored a goal in the first half and tacked on three more in the second for a 4-0 triumph at the CCBC Catonsville.
Last year, after a scoreless 100 minutes, the Mavericks won on penalty kicks, 6-5.
Eastern Tech poured on the pressure from the outset with a header on goal in the first minute and a goal in the second minute.
Defender Ryan Cummings delivered the first score after a long throw into the box by defender Ryan Strait.
“He threw it in and it took some type of deflection and it fell to me and I was able to put it in,” said Cummings, who is no stranger to Strait’s throw-ins.
“Throughout the whole season, we just have a play where we work and try and get people front post and to the goal, so I just throw it in to him or up top if he is double covered,” Strait said.
Eastern Tech had a goal nullified because of offsides three minutes later, but the Generals woke up and didn’t allow another solid scoring opportunity the rest of the half.
Meanwhile, although the Generals never had a shot that was saved by Eastern Tech goalie Ryan Jankowiak, they get some chances.
The first shot by the Generals was wide by Koshish Giri with 31:12 left in the half.
Nicholas Lewis, Grant Kuehn and David Hutch had high shots later in the half.
Eastern Tech nearly extended the lead, but Matt Davis’ breakaway shot was saved by charging goalie Caden Fong with 4:17 left in the half.
A feed by Sean Mathias to Rome Wainwright resulted in another errant shot for the Generals with 35 seconds left in the half.
“It’s been an outstanding season to this point, but I just told the boys, I thought we dominated the first half after the first five minutes and the second half we had some pretty good control too and that’s one of the top ball clubs in the area,” Towson coach Randy Dase said.
With 29:15 left, Lewis had a shot that hit the side of the net for the Generals.
Two minutes later, a feed from Kuehn to Bryce Vanik gave the Generals their best opportunity of the night when a foul resulted in a free kick on the left side, just outside the penalty box.
Vanik’s kick was repelled by Cummings and it was sent back in again and Cummings cleared it down left side to Arsalan Ahmad.
Ahmad sent a long high cross to Isaac Ngobu who scored the second goal.
“It was just knowing where to be and then creating opportunities,” Cummings said.
Eastern Tech coach Peter Glaudemans has come to expect big plays from Cummings.
“He (Ryan) has been a three-year starter on our backline and last year he was our left back and we slipped him into the middle this year and he’s a wonderful partner with Ben Kropp to work with in the middle,” Glaudemans said. “They are just good smart players, they keep the shape, keep the organization and share the discipline that our team has”
Dase sensed a possible tie before the free kick went awry.
“We are down one goal and we have a direct kick and it ricochets and they have a counter and they score on a layup down there, so that’s called the breaks of the game,” he said.
Ngobu was just happy to be in the right place.
“It bounced in front of me and I saw the keeper was not coming out, so I knew by the time he decided to come out if I ran to the ball it was hard to avert,” Ngobu said.
Less than five minutes later, Ahmed Abd-Elazzem assisted Ahmad for a 3-0 lead.
Ngobu added the final tally in the last minute of the game.
“It was a good night for us to compete against a good high-quality team like Eastern Tech, who are the defending [Class 2A] state champs,” Dase said. “I don’t think we played a bad game, I thought we played pretty good soccer, but their speed and quickness overtook us in the long run.”
Glaudemans said the trust of his veteran squad is one of the keys to the Mavericks success.
“We are blessed with really good kids that are willing to trust and they are also good soccer players,” Glaudemans said. “They’ve given me the pleasure of being able to lead them and I in turn give them the trust that they deserve.”