Jacob Graham of the Vikings and Trenton Giel of the Champions battle for possession. (Post Photo by Rickey Clardy)
By RICKEY CLARDY
Sports Writer
UNIONVILLE — With winds sometimes in excess of 30 MPH, the Cascade Champions and the Community Vikings battled for 80 minutes with neither team able to find the back of the net as the Champs and Vikings battled to a scoreless tie in a District 9-A and intra-county soccer match Friday night.
Each team had a definitive advantage for half the game when it had the wind at its back, but kicks and passes often failed to hit the intended marks as serious scoring chances were few and far between.
The Champs enjoyed the wind advantage in the opening half but could not muster any major scoring opportunities as Viking keeper Cody Duff stopped all shots that came into his area.
Alejandro Catalan of the Vikings and Will Cook of the Champions battle for possession. (Post Photo by Rickey Clardy)
Starting in the 22nd minute, the Vikings came alive and peppered the Champion goal for a 3-minute stretch, but Champ keeper Ayden Woodard was true to the test and kept the Vikings off the scoreboard.
Woodard stopped a hard shot on goal by Viking Jack Whittaker and came up with a tremendous save on a shot by Community’s Alejandro Catalan as the game went to halftime in a tie.
With the teams changing directions for the second half, the Vikings used the wind to their advantage to keep the ball on the Champion side of the field for most of the half. Catalan wasted little time blasting a shot on goal in the first 30 seconds of the half, but Woodard made the save.
The Champs were wide on a shot attempt by Logan Haddock four minutes into the half while Tyler Rodgers of the Vikings was left on a shot in the game’s 67th minute as the teams tried to break the ice with time running out.
A Cascade shot in the final two minutes became a tricky save by Duff with the wind continuing to play tricks while a hard last second shot on goal by the Vikings was stopped by Woodard as the game ended.
Cascade 0 0 — 0
Community 0 0 — 0
