WORTHINGTON - Even though the Worthington Trojans boys soccer team led 1-0 at halftime Thursday, all was not well with head coach Smitty Ektnitphong’s mindset.
“The first half we were not focused on our first touch and our passes,” he explained later. “At halftime I asked them to reassess what was not working. And unanimously, they said it was just what I said.”
Back on the same page, the Trojans scored three second half points and finished with a 4-0 victory over New Ulm (3-3), upping their record to 5-1-1.
Despite playing the first half of the first half almost exclusively on the Eagles’ side of the field, WHS didn’t score until 10:37 remained until halftime. That was when junior forward Anthony Sanchez broke past the New Ulm defenses on a breakout and, with no one near him but the goalkeeper, punched it in from an assist by Joe Reveles.
The second half was much better offensively for the home team. At the 55-minute mark, senior Tom Hanselmann scored on a hard shot to the right side. It was, in Ektnitphong’s words, “a beautiful goal.” And it got the home crowd excited.
At the 64-minute mark, sophomore Edwin Hernandez scored on an assist from Kevin Gutierrez. Then one minute later, Jose Bahena found the net on an assist from Hernandez.
Worthington attempted 13 shots in the game compared to New Ulm’s four. Goalkeeper Sander Diaz recorded the shutout.
“The ball handling was much better in the second half. The passes that we connected to each other were great,” said Ektnitphong.
