Apology not necessary: Shaler overcomes sluggish second half, tops Hampton

By Josh Rizzo
SHALER TWP -- There was no hiding from the situation Tuesday night at Biles Field. The Shaler boys soccer team nearly conceded a two-goal lead and dropped a non-section game to Hampton.

While the the Titans scored twice in the final 9 minutes to score a 4-2 win, the members of Shaler's defense sought out coach Adam Hunter. If they didn't, Hunter would've addressed the situation quickly.

Both of Hampton's goals came from rocket shots, which were hit from close to Shaler goalie Matt Potock. Nick Bello scored for the Talbots (0-1) with 28 minutes remaining to cut the deficit to 2-1 by dribbling around the Titans defenders and depositing a shot past Potock.

Adam Zovko's 

"That was the whole point," Matt McAwley said. "To go into the second half with more fire. Looking to create more chances and get things on frame. We struggled in the first half to do that. In the second half, that was the main goal to put more shots on frame and test the goalkeeper. They did that well."

"It's something we talked about, they need to come out with the desire to do something and come back from a goal down," McAwley said. "I think they did that really well. It takes a different kind of animal to come from behind. Tonight, we were able to do that and things fell apart at the end."

"Play confident, that's actually twice they capitalized on goals where they dribbled around our backs and it was poor defending on our part," Hunter said. "They had two other opportunities where they dribbled across and we didn't step up and tackle. I don't know if it was afraid of getting penalty called against us or just a brain lapse, but our defenders are better than that."

​"I think communication is key," Jashinski said. "I don't see us talking much right now. I think once people start talking to each other and working together it will be easier."

"If you look at the second half, we were pinging passes around," Grzegorczyk said. "We were playing as a team, that would be nice to carry on."