Signal Mountain came back in the second half and defeated Ooltewah in a non-district men’s soccer game that finished with a score of 4-1. After some terrible rain conditions, which caused a location change and delay of game, the two teams were finally able to battle it out on CSLA’s turf field.
The Ooltewah Owls kicked off the game and it was a fight to find the first goal. The Owls shaped up with a 4-4-2 formation, but they changed quickly to a 4-3-3 with a holding midfielder to match up with Signal. Their primary source of attack came from their speed on the wings. They would pressure high and hoping to put a ball in towards the top of the box.
The Signal Mountain Eagles shaped up with a 4-3-3 as well. They used this shape to play a ball from their holding midfielder to their striker in hopes to win one on one scenarios. This did not show any success in the first half due to the lack of build up play. Their defense played risky passes that turned the ball over too many times in their own third of the field.
The Owls caught on quickly to the weakness of the Eagles defense. It was clear that they were in a rocky state and Ooltewah pounced. They began to play an attacking midfielder to run at them the whole game. It was not long before Signal Mountain made a costly mistake. Signal’s defense held on to the ball for way too long allowing Ooltewah to double team them and take possession outside the box. Ooltewah’s Leonardo Anguino took possession and sent a ball on the ground to Heimel Garcia who needed no other plan than to pass it in the net and go up on the Eagle 1-0.
Signal mountain became even more unsettled after going down by one. they had no answer on offense yet and they were losing their desire to compete with Ooltewah. The first half finally came to a close and Signal seemed defeated. The owls, still up by one, had not put together a good attacking play since their goal. They started playing more defensively hoping to hold on to their small lead.
A lot of things changed after halftime for the Eagles. The amin one was the formation and positioning from the first half. They played with eh attacking midfielder for the whole half and pushed their outside backs forward to play more like wingers. They made a few position changes, including dropping their striker Marc Bauer to attacking midfielder, their two changed out with Isaac Grant going to winger, and their winger Nicolas Johnson played striker.
A change like this brings a certain level of risk to the game. Obviously Signal Mountain needed to score at least once to still be in it. Things had to change, and they did in a big way. Quickly there was a switch of momentum and Signal Mountain found their rhythm. The Eagles began to play through their wingers. With the new depth of their midfield and speed on offense they found multiple chances in the box.
The first of the many chances found the back of the net when James Bartoo hits a long free kick into the far post connecting with the head of Nicolas Johnson to finish it and ties things up early in the second half. Once Signal scored, Ooltewah went completely defensive shaped to try and keep the tie. Unfortunately, with the amount of chances Signal was allowed, this didn’t work and signal fount the net three more times.
Once more they found the goal from a free kick that put them up 2-1 or their first lead of the night. The next two goals came from solid, clean possession and passing. They were able to find players open and move them in and out of the box. This left players wide open and one goal after another found them. The final whistle blew and the eagles won from an amazing turn around scoreline of 1-0 to 4-1.
After the game, Micheal Goza, Signal Mountain’s head coach, spoke about the comeback win. He had trust in his team to do what was needed to put them back in it.
“Coach (Rick) Adolph always has his team very well organized, End of the first half it was 1-0. Then at halftime just went back to what we have been practicing, and that is possessing the ball and looking for the outside defenders.” Coach Goza said, “We started keeping our composure and that proved a lot more effective in the second half and gave us the opportunities. I am proud of the guys.”
Ooltewah 1 0 -- 1
Signal Mountain 0 4 -- 4
Goal Scorers: Ooltewah- Heimel Garcia; Signal Mountain- Nicolas Johnson 2, Andrew Baker, Yuji Steele
Assists: Ooltewah- Leonardo Anguino; Signal Mountain- James Bartoo, Marc Bauer, Yuji Steele
(Email Alex McElyea at alexmcelyea26@gmail.com)