Dragons vs Northwest

Southlake, TX - March 8, 2013 - by JK Horne

The Dragon Men bounced back from a rare defeat the previous week to pummel the Northwest Texans on Friday night before a large and raucous crowd peppered with Carroll soccer glitterati from previous seasons. Less than two minutes in, Brad launched a powerful shot which, for what it lacked in accuracy, it made up for in style points as he nailed the American Flag pole three-quarters of the way up. Five minutes later, Jack F lofted a promising pass toward the far post which the goalie bobbled momentarily, and Jack P almost put in. Over the next five minutes, the Dragons battered the hapless Northwest defense with deep throw-ins and shots from every angle, with Tanner and Paul stepping up frequently to add to the onslaught. With 27 minutes left in the first half, Paul’s deep throw-in was tapped back to Tommy, who lofted a lovely floater over the top to Jack F who headed it in for the first score. The next several minutes featured no fewer than 4 Dragon corner kicks. On the last one, Walker served a beauty toward the far post which then bounced around in the box for a few seconds. Repositioning himself for a better angle from 25 yards out, Walker corralled the loose orb and uncorked a bending, dipping, sonic-booming, crossbar-paint-chipping, goalie-terrifying laser shot that put the Carroll squad up two nil. Just three minutes later, the Dragons found the scoreboard one more time as Tommy served another textbook pass to a well-positioned Jack F that he acrobatically slammed into the net. Meanwhile, the stout Dragon “D”, anchored in the middle by the impenetrable Triple-Towers of Mike, Logan , and Kyle, allowed not a single Northwest foray into the box until almost 30 minutes had passed in the half, and Turner easily dispatched a couple feeble attempts after that. The last 10 minutes of the half featured more Dragon fireworks, as Ricardo continually wreaked havoc on the left side, almost hitting pay-dirt on a nice pass from Jack F, and Duncan dominating in the middle with outstanding hustle creating additional opportunities.

In the second half, the offensive barrage continued. Tanner served a long cross-field pass to Jack F which he almost volleyed in with his back heel, and Shane just missed high with his left foot following a pass from Tommy. The Dragon squad showed its depth with frequent runs and opportunities initiated by Karl or Jake in the middle, and with Baker exhibiting his speed and agility along the sidelines deep into Northwest territory . The defense became the offense at times, with both Tanner and Kyle launching promising attempts from deep in the Texas side, while Zach outran the exhausted Northwest mids and D to create more Carroll chances. Connor displayed a versatile game, with pinpoint passes to Austin and Juan, and frequent disruptions of any Northwest advances. The most promising opponent opportunities over the last few minutes of the stanza ended in naught, as Ned made a brilliant defensive save on a transition, while Patrick stopped two point-blank shots to preserve the shutout and three nil victory.