The Patriots fell to the Waynflete Flyers 1-0 in a game that they controlled the majority of possession. The Patriots began the game at a slower pace than they usually do, causing them to struggle to find their rhythm early.
The Flyers had several of the early opportunities on goal. Sending in long balls for their attackers to run on to. The Patriots’ defense snuffed out a majority of these attacks, only allowing the Flyers to get behind a few times. Those few times did prove costly a couple minutes after the sanitization break. Morgan Earls got in behind the defense, cut towards the middle to create space from them recovering and sent a fantastic shot in on goal, just out of Ivy Abrams’ reach.
As the half continued the Patriots began to find themselves. They began making quicker plays and passing through the Flyers’ defense. Despite controlling the game more and more, they were unable to score before the half ended.
The second half continued how the first half ended. The Patriots kept building up from the back, passing through the Flyers and trying to send the ball in behind the defense. Sometimes the Patriots were successful in getting in behind, getting a cross off or a shot, other times the Flyers’ sweeper would get to the ball and boot it back to the Patriots defense. This became quite the repetitive cycle, the Patriots would build up only for the ball to be kicked long and have to start again.
Despite all their attacking pressure, the Patriots were unable to find the final touch to put the ball in the net. A few great opportunities were kicked just a little too high or wide. The game came to an end before they were able to find the goal they were looking for.
The Patriots fall to 1-1 with the loss and the Flyers improve to 1-1. The Patriots will look to bounce back when they travel to Bonny Eagle to face the Scots on Wednesday October 7th. JV is scheduled to kick off first at 4pm with varsity kicking off at 6pm.