DOGGED EFFORT
Poland keeper preserves opening win over Fitch
POLAND
Any win in a season opener is a win a team will gladly take.
However they’re not all good, as the Poland boys soccer team learned Tuesday in a 2-0 win over Austintown Fitch.
Not sharp from the opening kick, the Bulldogs used two first-half goals from senior forward Anthony Sabula and a flurry of saves by keeper Bryan Montgomery to preserve a shutout victory on their home field.
But even they agreed, it was far from a thing of beauty.
“The last couple scrimmages our possession’s been lacking a little bit,” Poland coach Brian Garcar said. “We wanted to play more possession, better first touch.
“I don’t know if we played our best game tonight, but you have to give Fitch a lot of credit.”
After falling behind by two goals in the first half, the Falcons came out strong to start the second. Controlling most of the possession, they started to get sustained pressure on Montgomery.
The problem for the Falcons is he was up to the challenge each time.
“It actually feels great,” said Montgomery, who made half a dozen saves in the final 40 minutes. “I don’t really get too much action sometimes, so games like that you just can’t beat it.”
While Garcar came away pleased with his goalies performance, he was a little apprehensive to agree with how much action he got as a positive.
“[Fitch] had three or four really good opportunities that he made big saves on and we ended up getting the win because of him,” Garcar said. “[Montgomery]’s been growing, he’s only a junior, so we get another year of him.”
As a freshman, Montgomery had to sub in during a playoff game after Poland’s starting goalie went down. The situation on Tuesday didn’t qualify for as much intensity, but Montgomery was happy to get the win nonetheless.
In the sixth minute, a misplay by the Falcons defense converted into an easy opening goal for the Bulldogs. Marcus Trevis gained possession of the ball near the Fitch goal line and he sent a low cross to a wide open Sabula who redirected the ball into the corner of the net.
Then, in the 34th minute, Sabula gave the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead with his second goal of the game.
“Looked like a good touch off the right, interrupted a shot, but found the touch over the defender and put it back post,” Sabula said.
The Bulldogs lost their captain in the second half after what he called “a little bit of a kick to the back of the calf.”
Sabula conceded it was nothing major after the game, despite liming off and not returning to action.
“We’ve been waiting for him to have his breakout season and we think this could be it for him,” Garcar said. “With his injury, he’s a big part of our team so that kind of messed our flow up a little bit toward the end of the game.
“But those two goals were big.”
In the 66th minute Montgomery made a diving save on Fitch’s Kyle Cyphert, punching away a ball rolling toward the corner.
In the 77th minute, he made one last save — a one-handed punch that somehow caught the ball — just for good measure.
“I had a bad touch to my outside defender and kid came in and shot it near post,” Montgomery said. “I had my hand extended enough just to get it out.
After the game, Montgomery refused to acknowledge that any luck was involved in the save.
“There’s a lot to it,” he said with a smile.