43
Hudak, Mooney blank Ursuline
Photo
Ursuline’s John Hintz (14) kicks the ball past Mooney’s Christopher Perry (20) and Myles Harris (1) during their game Tuesday at Youngstown State University. The Cardinals shut out the Irish, 2-0.
Hudak’s shutout powers Cardinals
By Greg Gulas
Youngstown
As a freshman, Cardinal Mooney High School goalie Dustin Hudak was a promising field player.
According to Cardinals head coach Lou Cali, who called Hudak one of the hardest working players he has ever coached, he also realized that the quickest way onto the field in order to make a contribution was in goal.
It’s a position that he has quickly learned and seemingly mastered during his initial campaign between the woodwork.
Hudak rejected all four Ursuline shots while Christopher Perry and Michael Myers provided all the offense necessary as the Cardinals defeated the Irish, 2-0 in a Diocese of Youngstown Athletic League clash Friday at YSU’s Farmers Bank Field.
It was the fourth time in seven games this season that Hudak has pitched a shutout.
“Coach [Larry] Lencyk is our defensive coordinator and he keeps preaching to us to stay together, work in sync, have your man marked but most of all play hard the entire game,” Hudak said. “These guys work really well as a unit and the players in front of me have been the key to our success defensively. They play their game and that allows me to play mine.”
Ursuline (4-3, 1-1) hasn’t defeated the Cardinals since 2005.
“We have only five seniors so you can bet that this year’s group didn’t want to be the first class to lose in the past nine years,” Cali said. “It’s funny, but the schedule that we play kind of makes it tough at times to get up for some of the other local teams that we play. When we play Ursuline, however, it’s a rivalry game and we don’t have to say very much to the team.”
Perry gave Cardinal Mooney (5-2, 3-0) a goal advantage at 11:54 of the opening half. The Cardinals had 10 shots on goal in the first half as Irish goalie Trey Roller stopping all but one of those shots.
It was his fourth goal of the season.
“Jake Clark had a throw-in on the left side, Jack Brennan then flicked the ball with his head over to me and I tapped it in with my right foot,” Perry said. “We did extra one-touch passing drills and set pieces in order to prepare for this game and that really helped.”
Myers’ second goal of the season just 21 seconds after intermission provided insurance.
“Going up 2-0 at the outset of the second half was huge. We wanted a comfortable lead to work with while creating some distance in the process,” Myers said.
Irish coach Roy Schmidt said he was pleased with his team’s effort, adding there are still some things that need to be worked on and tweaked in order to become a better team.
“While we played hard, we didn’t necessarily play smart and that is an area that will be addressed with the team,” Schmidt said.