The Temple Wildcats’ first loss of the season to their Bell County boys soccer rival supposedly wasn’t the team’s focus as they faced off with Belton for the second time in less than a week.
But it certainly appeared that way.
After struggling in the first meeting, Temple came out aggressive and controlled the tempo for nearly the entire 80 minutes in the Wildcats’ 4-1 win over the Tigers on Friday night at Woodson Field.
Within the first 15 minutes, Temple (12-1-2 overall, 2-0 13-5A) had four shots on goal and had Belton’s defense back on its heels.
That was certainly in contrast to the way the Wildcats played against the Tigers (5-6-1, 1-1) last weekend in a 3-2 loss in the third-place game of the Round Rock Tournament.
“I thought the first 15 minutes were fantastic,” Temple coach Matt Corley said. “We were hitting the crossbar a few times . . . we’re in their half constantly. We took it to them the first 15 minutes before they were able to settle down and get control of the game.”
The Wildcats struck for two goals in the final 10 minutes of the first half, despite playing a man down.
Ryan Staten scored his seventh goal of the year in the 30th minute on a free kick from 30 yards away that found its way to the right corner of the goal.
The Wildcats scored again eight minutes later on a header by Brad Lawrence to take a 2-0 halftime lead. Lawrence’s goal was his fourth of the year.
Those two goals came with Temple playing a man down after confusion on a red card issued to midfielder Jeff Pickett.
Pickett received his second yellow card of the game in the 26th minute, disqualifying him for the game and the team’s game Tuesday at Killeen Ellison.
Because Pickett was only issued what Corley called a “soft red card,” Temple could send in a replacement. After a conversation with the officials, Temple was able to return to full strength 12 minutes later.
A man down or at full strength, the Wildcats’ attacking offense had the Tigers on their heels.
It’s just exactly what Belton coach Tarcisiso Mosnia expected. Before the game, Mosnia said he knew Temple would be more aggressive offensively in the rematch.
“Today wasn’t our day, I’ll put it that way,” said Mosnia, who coached Temple from 2002-05. “They were more aggressive than we were. The ball was going in for them and it wasn’t going in for us.”
The Tigers scored their lone goal on a breakaway shot by Vincent Crepeau in the 50th minute.
After a disappointing defensive effort against the Crepeau and Josh Caffey in last week’s game, Temple held Belton’s talented pair of forwards in check for most of the game.
Part of the Wildcats’ success was the move of Gilberto Vera to the backline, as well as a strong outing by goalkeeper Matt Elliott, who made several goal-saving stops.
“I thought that we played a lot better than the first time,” Corley said. “We always tried to have one more defender, if they had two, we put three. I think the adjustment of always having an extra man back there really helped us out.”
Temple scored two more goals late in the second half.
Itai Meki tipped in a crossing pass from Tyler Schneider in the 68th minute.
“We always run these plays where if the ball goes to the corner we expect them to cross it,” Meki said of his fifth goal. “I was just waiting for the cross.”
The assist was Schneider’s ninth of the year.
Forward Sean Coles continued his scoring dominance, notching his 29th goal of the season in the 77th minute.
Both Belton and Temple will face Killeen schools on the road Tuesday. The Wildcats travel to Ellison, while the Tigers visit Shoemaker.
rschneider@temple-telegram.com
