Despite putting a lot of pressure on Tumwater’s back line in the second half, Aberdeen couldn’t find the back of the net on Tuesday night.
The Thunderbirds scored once in each half for a 2-0 victory over the Bobcats in an Evergreen 2A Conference boys soccer opener at Stewart Field.
Aberdeen (0-1, 3-3) had a tough task in facing one of the top teams in the league, but the Bobcats held their own for most of the first half.
The Bobcats played well defensively for the most part, but a failure to clear the ball out of the box on a throw-in led to a goal by Travis Luther in the 28th minute.
Aberdeen could not find the equalizer in the first half and went into the half down 1-0 after 40 minutes of play that for the most part was dominated by midfield play.
Aberdeen head coach Larry Fleming said it was a little frustrating to see attempts at the goal sail just wide of the posts.
“We were getting shots on goal we just can’t seem to get them in the goal or get them below the cross bar,” he said. “Our headers were gong to the outside so we’re pretty close to scoring, but I was pretty happy with our possessions.”
Aberdeen came out in the second half with a more aggressive approach on offense and tried to use stretch passes down the wings in the hopes of extending the defense.
After Tumwater generated another goal with the help of a free kick right outside the box, Aberdeen applied even more pressure in the final 20 minutes and forced the Thunderbirds to bring more players back to preserve the lead.
Though the Bobcats were kept off the scoreboard, Fleming liked the fight his team showed when players such as Tony Oropeza and Hulizes Chavez put shots on goal.
“I like it a lot because it shows that we’re not going to quit,” he said. “We were still going hard and creating a bunch of opportunities all the way to the final whistle. We had some really good chances at the end.”
Fleming noted the performance of sweeper Christian Sanchez, who helped make up for a few defensive mistakes and cleared the ball out of some dangerous situations.
Aberdeen will try to bounce back from its first league loss of the season with a match against Chehalis on the road Friday.
“Our effort was good and defensively we marked up pretty well for the most part against a better team,” he said. “We’re really close to putting it together.”
Aberdeen’a Brendan Ford (2) and Angel Sanchez chase down Tumwater’s Travis Luther during the first half on Tuesday. (Hasani Grayson | The Daily World)
