NK falls short against York

New Kent spotted York’s visiting Falcons a 2-0 first half lead before closing within one just before the break. But neither team could add to the goal total the rest of the way as the Falcons escaped with a 2-1 Bay Rivers District soccer win.

Although his team dipped to 1-5 in district play (2-7-1 overall) with the loss, Trojan coach Craig Aliff saw nothing but positives on the field last Friday night.

“We played real good soccer, probably the best we have this season,” he said, noting that York is a team flirting with a top four standing in Bay Rivers.

The Trojans got early pressure on the Falcon goal with a pair of shots stopped by keeper Corey Alexander. But about 10 minutes into the contest, the visitors began to take over.

York’s Courtney McKoy handed his team a 1-0 lead just inside the 25-minute mark, drilling a shot past Trojan keeper Dylan Coons. Five minutes later, the Falcons’ Joe Coleman got open behind Trojan defenders, beating Coons one-on-one for a 2-0 lead.

But New Kent’s defense settled down after that and a resurgence at the offensive end took place with about four minutes left in the half. Trojan defender Josh Brown cleared the ball out of the New Kent end to striker David Ivanov who unleashed a long-range shot that sailed over Alexander’s head and into the net.

“We were trying to establish some sort of tempo for what we were doing,” Aliff said. “We were trying to hit the ball up and put pressure on their defenders. Our main focus was to not play around with the ball in the back and get the ball up to our forwards.

“In the second half, we continued to do the same thing except we connected more on passes to the forwards,” he said.

New Kent came close to tying the affair in the second half as Ivanov dribbled past defenders and passed ahead to teammate Jared Dickerson in the box. Dickerson appeared to have an open shot, but Alexander closed quickly, smothering the ball before Dickerson could react. Then with seven minutes to go, Ivanov launched another shot at forcing overtime, but the ball sailed just above the goal and out of bounds.

For the match, York owned a 17-6 edge in shots on goal. Coons stopped five shots while Alexander managed three saves.