Boys soccer: Hawks stay composed, squeak past Linganore

URBANA- The Urbana Hawks boys soccer team know where they stand as a unit. That they have the talent to win any game on their schedule and be state championship contenders in class 3A, but also understand the capability of their opposition.

They know that if and when they find themselves down during a match that everything will pan out if they continue to focus on the things they can control – attitude and effort. It’s something that head coach Scott Schartner drives home on a consistent basis.

No matter the circumstance, Schartner’s group doesn’t press the issue or be something that they’re not. Coming into Thursday nights match against rival Linganore, the Hawks were the heavy favorites. But, like any other game, Schartner didn’t see it that way.

Instead, he knew what he and his Hawks bunch needed to do to come away on the winning end – to just play their game confidently and whatever happens, happens.

“We go to great lengths to make sure that we’re confident, but also respect every opponent that we play,” Schartner said. “I preach everyday in practice that if we focus on the things we can control, things will fall into place.”

Last night, Schartner’s Hawks would be tested early. Linganore’s Adam Needle took advantage of an Urbana defensive breakdown – darting a lead pass to his brother, Caleb Needle, in which he dribbled past a Hawk defender and found the back of the net with 37:57 left in the first frame.

Before Urbana could blink, they found themselves down 1-0 not even three minutes into the game. It took Schartner by surprise.

“That was a shock for us,” Schartner said. “But, we weathered through the storm and fought back.”

Composure – it’s a word that separates the elite teams from the rest and having the wherewithal to overcome adversity. When the Hawks (5-1 overall) got down early, they didn’t hang their heads, but rose to the occasion and scored the games final two goals to upend Linganore (0-5 overall), 2-1.

“Were we pleased that we got scored on early? No. But this group has a lot of composure and confidence in their teammates to overcome that,” Schartner said.

The Hawks knotted the game up at one a piece courtesy of a score that was netted by freshman forward Fabian Valenzuela-Ruz at the 19 minute mark in the first frame.

“My teammate Kyle (McQuillen) made a great pass over a couple defenders feet to me while I was cutting towards the net and I happened to get that ball through and into the back of the net,” Valenzuela-Ruz said.

As any rivalry would, each team went back and forth – trading shots at each other until something gave in. That’s when senior midfielder, Colin Anderson, had enough. The frustration of watching his teams miscues was mounting inside of him.

Just past the 60th minute, the ball was bouncing around in no particular possession about 35 feet from Urbana’s goal. Anderson whipped his leg back and fired a rocket towards the net that sailed passed Lancer net-minder, Matt Milner to put his Hawks up at the 62nd minute.

“That was just pure frustration,” Anderson said, referring to his game-winning goal that he batted out of the air. “I just turned and hit it as hard as I could and it went in.”

Linganore, meanwhile, drops their fifth game in a row to start the season. And though they walked out of Urbana last night with a loss, there was a lot to take away from the effort that was displayed being up on a prominent Hawk team for the first 18 minutes of the game.

“We came out with a lot of energy,” said Milner, the senior goalkeeper who recorded 14 saves. “Despite the score, all-in-all it was a pretty good game for us. It’s a good eye opener for the future.”

Urbana travels to Tuscarora next Monday looking to carry on their state title aspirations.

“I’m proud of my guys,” Schartner said. “We did a great job of persevering through the early adversity to get the result at the end.”

Urbana out shot Linganore, 28-11 with 16 of those being on goal for the Hawks and nine being on goal for the Lancers. Urbana’s Kyle McQuillen registered five shots and one assist and Hawks goalkeeper Riley Barry recorded eight saves.

You can follow me on Twitter at @k_fadd and Maryland Sports Access @MDSportsAccess.

 

Box score

 

1st 2nd Final
LIN 1 0 1
URB 1 1 2

 

Scoring summary

 

LIN URB
1st 2:03 LIN Caleb Needle assisted by Adam Needle 1 0
18:01 URB Fabian Valenzuela-Ruz assisted by Kyle McQuillen 1 1
2nd 62:13 URB Colin Anderson unassisted 1 2

 

 

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About Kyle McFadden 270 Articles
Kyle McFadden is a graduate from Linganore High's Class of 2014 and is a sports enthusiast. He got his start as a sports writer in January 2014 for LHS's student newspaper The Lance where he wrote 13 articles. McFadden then launched his own blog in October 2014 called The Beltway Dispatch covering collegiate, local high school, and professional sports. Formally known as The Beltway Dispatch, McFadden and Evan Engelhard merged each other's respective platforms in June 2015 to make what is now Maryland Sports Access. He brings plenty of sports knowledge to the helm of MSA as he has baseball, basketball and golf experience. McFadden covers a wide variety of sports in football, baseball, basketball, golf, hockey, lacrosse, soccer and specializes in the collegiate and high school level's. McFadden is volunteers his time at Damascus Road Community Church -- serving as a mentor to the youth, basketball coach at the varsity and junior varsity levels, and leads a small group of high school sophomores every Wednesday night. Although he has only been around journalism since January 2014, his work has appeared in Maryland newspapers such as The Daily Times (Delmarva Now), The Hometown Observer, Germantown Pulse, and regularly in the The Frederick News-Post. He's also won two Frederick News-Post Mike Powell Excellence in Journalism awards and has appeared on The Best of SNO, which showcases top student work of high school and college journalists. McFadden also holds positions at The Frederick News-Post as a freelance sports journalist, DMVelite as a high school basketball writer and analyst, MocoFootball.com as a Maryland high school football analyst, and as a staff writer for Maryland's Yahoo! Rivals. McFadden currently studies at Frederick Community College and plans to transfer to the University of Maryland in the fall of 2017 to work on a bachelor's degree in business and journalism as he has aspirations to be a columnist for ESPN.
Contact: Twitter

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