BOYS SOCCER: Berries rout Western on night they honor 14 seniors
Sep. 14—After hitting a rough patch in the middle of the season, the Logansport boys soccer team responded in a big way this week with back-to-back wins over Kokomo and Western.
The Berries beat future Hoosier Conference opponent Western 6-0 Wednesday on senior night at the LHS soccer field.
That was one night after Logan recorded a 6-3 win over Kokomo that snapped what was an ugly two-game losing streak.
The Berries (5-6-1) routed the Panthers on a night where they started all 11 seniors. They have 14 seniors total on the team this year.
"That was a nice set of wins back-to-back two nights in a row," Logansport coach Mike Turner said. "Kokomo last night it was a 1-1 game at halftime. To come here and play the next night after playing a conference game it's always tough. I think we just had more talent than they did. I think they're down a little bit.
"I started my group of seniors, all of them, I had 11 seniors on the field and they did their jobs. They did a very good job."
Melvin Hidalgo opened the scoring binge in the fourth minute when he connected from deep with the assist going to Cristian Arias.
Gaspar Francisco got the ball on a fastbreak on a pass by Juan Carlos Rodriguez and finished in the seventh minute. Devin McAninch dribbled through the Western defense and found the back of the net in the ninth minute. Logan Lange hit the top post and it bounced into the goal to make it a 4-0 game in the 22nd minute and the score would remain that way until halftime.
Vigensley Merjuste scored on a nice delivery by McAninch on a corner kick with 25:30 remaining. Rodriguez scored on a rebound goal with 35 seconds left in the game for the 6-0 final.
"Two games in a row six goals. That's a huge turnaround when we were the one giving up six," Turner said.
About the only negative from the night for the Berries was that sophomore leading scorer Hodge Turner did not play in the game due to an ankle injury suffered during the Kokomo game.
"Hodge might have a broken ankle," coach Turner said. "He got hit in the last 10 minutes. He had two goals and an assist and then he gets cleated as he's clearing the ball. So that's two guys now with possible broken ankles because we lost Jonas [Lopez] early in the season. We're down a few guys. Today we got one back from suspension."
Coach Turner said there's a chance his son could return at some point this season.
"They did the X-rays and we're just waiting to see," he said. "They didn't know, they thought it might have got his growth plate or something. But he might only be out until next week. He can walk, he just can't twist.
"At least I'd like to have him back for sectionals."
The Berries have three games left in the regular season. They travel to Marion Saturday to conclude NCC play, have a week off next week and then travel to Class A No. 9 Carroll Sept. 26 and to Northwestern Sept. 28.
Coach Turner said a week off should help his team.
"We can fine-tune the system a little bit more, get guys healthy, get a little more confident. Hopefully get a win Saturday and have three wins in a row, a great confidence booster. I think it'll be good for us," he said.
"Last night was really good because we've had a rough schedule, a couple games where we just did not look that good. We have talent, as you see we have talent. It's frustrating for me so I kind of had to get out of my own way and rethink and make some tactical changes and it works. The boys bought in, they like it and they're comfortable. They're confident and it's working."
Turner is looking to take momentum into the sectional where Class 3A No. 14 Harrison looks to be the favorite.
"I think we'll be a force," Turner said, "if we keep winning and we've got some confidence. We lost confidence in the middle of the season there. We were losing players. Counting Hodge, that's six starters we've lost since the start of the season. So changing the system to the strengths that we have hides some of our weaknesses and it's working really well. The boys are really confident, they're having fun, I'm not yelling as much so it's showing."
