The Becker Bulldog boys soccer team went 1-1 in two matches this week to improve to 5-2-3 overall and in second place in their conference and ranked fourth in their section.

 

The Boys traveled to Melrose Thursday to play a GRC match with the Dutchmen.

 

The two teams had gone into overtime in their last three games with Melrose winning two of the matches last season and both teams drawing a tie in a match at Becker a couple of weeks ago.  

 

Thursday, Becker lost the coin toss and Melrose chose to start the game with the sun to their backs.

 

“Having your goalkeeper start by staring into that late autumn sun is tough,” said Jurek.  “We had to get every early opportunity to sink if we were to keep this a game.”

 

Jurek decided to shift senior Evan Epperly to a forward position and it paid off.   Three minutes into the match, Epperly made a move around the right side and battled to put the ball beyond the keeper and into the back of the net for the first score.  

 

Four minutes later, Epperly did the same and  Becker was up 2-0.  

 

Melrose was not to be quieted and used the sun's advantage by tying the match up shortly thereafter.  

 

Still in the first half, sophomore phenom Jordan Gruenes would net a goal of his own to put the Bulldogs back up by one goal at 3-2.  

 

Melrose would answer on a controversial call, which put the leading scorer in the conference on a penalty kick.  Penalty kicks are usually a sure thing in most soccer matches, however, Becker's Hunter McCalla stopped the initial shot, only to have it rebound into a bad position and then put in the net.  With seven minutes left in the half, the score was tied 3-3.

 

Epperly went back to work and with just a few minutes left in the first half, he netted third goal of the game and first hat trick for Becker soccer since 2013.

 

“Epperly has a knack for finding the ball,” said Jurek.  “His tenacity and aggressive play is the reason that we moved him to the front line.  He made his presence known tonight against a very good keeper.”

 

For as much scoring as there was in the first half, the two teams fell silent in the second and the Bulldogs escaped with the one goal win.

 

Becker came into Tuesday night’s matchup against Cathedral with just one loss on the year — that to Cathedral a couple weeks ago.

 

“We knew that this match would decide the conference,” said Jurek. “And Cathedral already had a game in hand against us.  The boys knew that there would be no moral victories tonight.”

 

Cathedral’s Nathan Windfeldt scored the go-ahead goal with 10 minutes remaining and the Crusaders hung on for the win in Becker.

 

Gruenes scored 10 minutes into the match for the lone goal for the Bulldogs. It was the first time Becker had ever held a lead against Cathedral.

 

The Bulldogs kept up the intensity, but late in the first half, Cathedral would even the match at 1-1 on a corner kick.

 

In the second half, the two sides kept pushing each other and testing the each others' keepers.  However, Cathedral’s Windfeldt  notched the fatal blow with less than a dozen minutes on the clock.  

 

Difficult as it was, Becker was forced to watch as the Crusaders celebrated their fifth consecutive conference title.

 

Sam Hanson had six saves for Cathedral. McCalla had eight saves for Becker.

 

Becker faced off against Delano Friday night at home (full report on match in next week’s Citizen-Tribune).

 

The boys will travel to Minnewaska Tuesday, then host St. John’s Prep Thursday in their final regular season match of the year.