Glenelg boys soccer was chomping at the bit for game action. The eighth-ranked Gladiators’ last scrimmage was 10 days prior to Monday’s opener against reigning 3A state champion No. 15 River Hill.
The host Gladiators jumped ahead in the second minute and added a valuable insurance goal late in the first half. The Hawks battled furiously in the second half, but their comeback fell short as Glenelg hung on for a season-opening 2-1 win.
The Gladiators admittedly had some rough practices last week, but the early goal offered some comfort and allowed them to play with more freedom. Off a seemingly innocuous play, senior midfielder Brady Belmore buried the opening goal on a low shot.
“In this league, anytime you can get a goal, it’s a good thing,” Glenelg coach Joey Osborne said. “It gives you a little bit of cushion. We knew we were playing a team that was going to push us to the limit, push us to the very end. So, having a little cushion early on was definitely a big help.”
Glenelg was the more aggressive and assertive team at the outset, winning the majority of contested balls and controlling much of the possession.
A tightly contested game between two of the county’s top teams, the Gladiators capitalized on a critical Hawks’ error in the 34th minute. Playing the ball out wide, one of the Hawks defenders misplayed it and it bounced directly to Glenelg midfielder Alex Ball. The veteran was all alone and left no doubt with his shot doubling the Gladiators’ lead.
“It’s vital because one goal makes the whole difference,” Ball said. “It was very tight. Any mistake that we made at the backend it would’ve been a tie. So, having that edge, that extra cushion made a lot of difference.”
River Hill came out in the second half with a renewed energy and heightened sense of urgency. The Hawks were now the team controlling more possession and winning those 50-50 balls in the midfield. Despite that, Glenelg nearly put the game out of reach in the 62nd minute thanks to last year’s Howard County leading goal scorer Tito Tokunboh-Salako.
Salako was all alone on a breakaway in front of River Hill goalie Tyler Montfort, but the senior aggressively came out of net and ushered away the opportunity. That seemingly gave the Hawks a sense of life as six minutes later, River Hill cut the deficit to one. On a set piece off Luke Martinez’s long throw, Ravi Toscano was there to head the ball in at the back post.
“They just played harder in the second half,” River Hill coach Matthew Shagogue said. “We made a tactical change, but it’s effort. The first two goals were breakdowns and then we’re playing from two goals behind. Then we get one and it’s like, ‘OK, here comes another one and it just didn’t.’ The game completely flipped for us in the second half and I really genuinely believe it was effort-based.”
With an increased sense or urgency, River Hill continued to press its attack forward. Then in the 70th minute, Tokunboh-Salako was awarded a red card, which only intensified the pressure on Glenelg’s back line in front of senior goalie Zach Jenkins. The Hawks generated several high-quality chances in those final 10 minutes, but Jenkins and senior defender Vishnu Almli made several critical plays down the stretch.
Jenkins is in his first year as the starting keeper, while Almli is the veteran of the back line, a second team All-County selection as a junior. Jenkins’ communication and Almli’s experience were pivotal in Glenelg’s ability to prevent the equalizer.
Moving forward, the Gladiators are aiming to match their opposition’s intensity level and sustain a higher level of play for a full 80 minutes.
“Organization was key,” Almli said. “We’re a pretty new back line, so we’re just figuring out how to gel still. I was in a couple of those situations last year. So, with the intensity, we’ve got to grind, we’ve got to figure it out because I was really tired by tired by the end. It’s just finding that extra gear and pushing through when we’re down. ‘We’ve got to want it more than them’ is what I said to the team. That’s really what got us through that last part of the game.”
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