Ravens take rematch with Central Lee in substate quarterfinal

By Molly Roberts
Posted 5/26/21

Hillcrest Academy defeated Central Lee, 2-0, in the first round of substate play on Thursday, May 20, thanks to two goals that came less than a minute apart in the first half.

Midway through the …

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Ravens take rematch with Central Lee in substate quarterfinal

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Hillcrest Academy defeated Central Lee, 2-0, in the first round of substate play on Thursday, May 20, thanks to two goals that came less than a minute apart in the first half.

Midway through the first half, Hillcrest ramped up its pressure on Central Lee. Aidan Yoder sent a ball forward to Eli Ours, who then passed wide to Jorge Canchola. Canchola controlled the ball, with help from Noah Miller, before cutting the ball back and beating the goalie to the near post—Hillcrest up 1-0.

The last time Hillcrest faced Central Lee, the Ravens lost 1-0 in overtime and head coach Marcus Miller said the team struggled to get shots off throughout the entire game.

“Their keeper and sweeper are really good, so we tried to do some things different for that tonight,” Coach Miller said after the Ravens’ victory on Thursday. “We concentrated a lot on trying to get the ball wide. And it worked, so we got more shots.”

Thirty-seven seconds after the first goal, the Ravens found the back of the net again. Yoder sent the ball forward, where Noah Miller took control and passed to Will Kolck, who beat his defender to the inside before taking a quick shot and giving Hillcrest a 2-0 lead.

“We’ve struggled to score at times this year, so it’s nice to finally get a goal,” Coach Miller said. “We’re learning to be patient. To get two goals was great; we thought if we got three, they might give up a little but that didn’t happen.”

While Hillcrest did create chances in the second half, and even found the back of the net twice, both goals were waived off by an offsides call and a penalty.

The second half of the game was decidedly more physical than the first — both teams became more aggressive going after the ball, which resulted in more tussles and generally rough play.

Coach Miller said the back and midfield Ravens did a great job of standing up to the pressure.

“Grant Bender, Aiden Yoder and Aaron Hershberger in the first half  and Andrew Starr in the second just did a really good job of limiting their chances,” Coach Miller said. “Those guys in the back did a really nice job of standing up to [the roughness] and not holding on to the ball too long, but getting rid of it so that it doesn’t give [Central Lee] a chance to do anything.”

Coach Miller praised the midfield players, including Eli Ours, Canchola, Dominic Bouse and Collin Miller, for controlling the game, noting that the Ravens passed the ball better than they had in recent games.

Hillcrest’s season came to an end on Monday with a 4-0 loss to No. 1 Burlington Notre Dame in a substate semifinal.