Dogie men starting to make gains

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
The Dogies have been progressively showing improvement this season, and last weekend was no exception to that rule. Though they emerged from it without a win, in their contest against Buffalo on Friday and their partial game against Douglas on Monday, head coach Elyse Dickey and assistant coach Sally Hoover agreed that the men are beginning to put things together.
“Overall, we played much better than we have been playing. We were connecting passes and possessing better than we have been,” Dickey declared. “The score didn’t look great, but we looked a lot better and you could tell from their demeanor that the guys felt better about how they played.”
Hoover made a point to note that the squad also played a much more consistent game, rather than coming out strong in the first half only to falter in the second. 
The Bison held a 4-0 lead going into the half, and put four more into the back of the net by the end of the contest, however they had to work hard to get those goals.
Buffalo scored four times on corner kicks which Hoover admitted that the boys had a hard time adjusting to and defending.
“If we could have figured out those corners, the score would have been much different,” Hoover said. “We will be working on those this week because they also became a problem in the Douglas game, and we have to put that issue to rest.”
With short time remaining in the contest, Ezra Anderson scored the Dogies’ only goal after being fouled in the box. He shot his penalty kick low into the back corner of the net.
The Dogies were able to get off five shots on goal throughout the contest, with Hayden Overman attempting three and Dayton McFarland shooting two. Goalkeeper Heath Henkle had nine saves on the night. 
“The guys played hard the whole game, and even at the end, you would never have known they were down 8-1 with the effort that they were putting forth on the field,” Hoover insisted. “That was awesome to see and if we can keep that up, good things will happen.”
The Dogies took the pitch on Monday in their makeup game against Douglas and it didn’t take long for the fans to see that the men were on a mission.
The fifth-ranked Bearcats were on their heels for most of the first half as the Dogies were on the attack and clearly had control of the contest.
“I’m really glad that people got to see what I’ve been seeing from the guys all season,” Hoover said. “The guys moved the ball well and they were playing their spots well. We’ve been focusing on making small passes and keeping our diamond formation as we move up the field, and they really did that well in the first half.”
Newcastle got on the board first, which is also the first time this season that the team has gotten the jump on their opponent.
Cael Holmes scored at about 10 and a half minutes into the game to take the 1-0 lead. The play evolved with a solid run up the left side of the field with Aidan Chick and Overman. Chick crossed the ball which went past McFarland to Holmes on the back side who was able to find the back of the net.
“The guys really executed well in that attack,” Hoover nodded. “We took advantage of our speed up top and Cael took a good shot to finish.”
For the remainder of the first half the Dogies controlled the tempo and went into the break with the 1-0 lead, however Douglas fired back in the second half quickly tying the game, then with two consecutive corner kicks took a 3-1 lead over the Dogies within 9:30 of returning to the pitch.
“In the second half, we tightened up and got defensive and we also stopped communicating,” Hoover sighed. “It was almost as though we tensed up and were afraid to lose our lead rather than work to extend it.”
With a little over 25 minutes to play, a lightning delay caused a pause in the contest and with the projected restart time of 8:30, the teams opted to suspend the game with the decision to be made this week whether they will finish at a later date or call the game as the score stands. 
“Because we played half of the game, technically they can call it,” Hoover explained. “However, both we and Douglas want to finish it, but it is ultimately up to the state whether we will.”
While they await the state’s decision, the Dogies will be preparing for a rematch against the Wolverines in Riverton on Friday.
“We have a lot of speed that we can take advantage of if we make those quick passes we’ve been stressing,” Hoover stated. “We will also be working on corners because they know how to defend corners, we just need to reinforce the roles that each player will be taking on so they are able to get over any issues we may have on those right now.”