ALEX PURDY
Daily Globe
WORTHINGTON - Speed, aggressiveness, communication and making as few mental mistakes as possible are just a few of the many ingredients it takes to win any sporting match. And on Tuesday the Worthington Trojans varsity boys soccer team put to use all of those ingredients, and a few more, as they routed the Marshall Tigers 6-1 in Worthington.
Jesus Ordaz, a Worthington junior, finished Tuesday’s match with three goals - a hat trick. His first came off a corner kick during the first half. Ordaz, in a mass of Trojans and Tigers alike, jumped out of the crowd to knock in a solid header past Tiger goalie Jackson Luther to score the game’s opening goal.
Ordaz also scored the next goal in the contest. His second came from a booming kick from just outside the box. Ordaz sent it inches away from the tips of Luther’s fingers, hitting the top crossbar, ricocheting off of the the post, hitting the back of the Tiger keeper, and dribbling it’s way into the back of the net.
“I think we came along nicely, defensively we played really well against a good Marshall team,” WHS head coach Smitty Eknitphong said. “We were able to disrupt their rhythm with their passing and get to the ball first, which is good.”
The next goal came off of the bench, in the form of Mark Demuth. Demuth streaked in from outside the box on a corner kick, jumped up, and headed the ball past the Tiger defense and into the top-right corner of the goal.
The fourth and last goal of the first half came from sophomore Angel Sanchez, who sent a rocket past the Tiger goaltender to make the score 4-0 at halftime.
“We played well, it was the first time playing in a few weeks. We had a couple of unfortunate bounces, but I think we can learn a lot from them,” Tiger head coach Andrew Larson said.
The second half started off with a bang for the Trojans. At 31:25, Trojan Victor Meza scored after the ball bounced to his feet to make it 5-1.
After a flag generated by Trojan defenseman Onel Chavez, the Trojans lost their shutout bid with a penalty shot goal by the Tigers’ Samuel Duran.
To finish off the scoring, Worthington’s Ordaz finished his hat-trick night with a goal similar to his first. This time, however, instead of his head, he used his foot to send the ball past the outstretched arms of Luther.
The Trojans (1-1-1) play Southwest Christian at 4 p.m. Thursday afternoon.
Worthington 4 2-6
Marshall 0 1-1
Albert Lea 14, WHS 0
ALBERT LEA -A tough game for the Worthington Trojans girls soccer team ended in a 14-0 loss to Albert Lea Tuesday.
With Albert Lea putting more than 40 shots on goal, Trojan keeper Ahmitra Alwal had a very busy night. Helping Alwal was Achan Alwal, who played a solid game defensively for the Trojans.
“They have a more athletic team,” WHS head coach Emily Ahlquist said, “They beat us to the ball, and they outhustled us. The girls kept their good attitudes, we were just outplayed.”
Scoring for Albert Lea was Callie Hanson, Larissa Hacker, Hannah Savelhoul and Becca Dup each had two goals.
Worthington is now 0-3-1, they play Austin at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
