The East Hamilton Hurricanes kicked off their District 6-AAA schedule with a hard fought 2-1 win against the Howard Hustlin’ Tigers. The Hurricanes showed up to the game as the underdogs. The Hustlin’ Tigers held home field advantage, yet that was no problem for East Hamilton’s crew. Their fans showed up and showed out for the epic face off.
The first half whistle blew, and the action was at full force. East Hamilton attacked first with a front two full of strength and speed. Howard Tech held their own defensively, keeping the two strikers under control. Howard’s method of play was more technical as they focused on moving the ball slowly and building up plays through creativity. Despite both teams having strong offenses, the first half would end with a 0-0 result and a lot of questions to be answered.
After their halftime talks, both teams entered the pitch with confidence, ready to take their game to the next level. East Hamilton struck first with a beautiful goal from Carlos Duran, who would have two on the day, in the first seven minutes of the half. The quick pace attack finally broke the Howard defense. Kellen Cuthbertson took control and sent a ball through to Duran for him to easily put it past the keeper. Ten minutes later the Hurricanes would get their second goal from a freekick. The foul would take place outside the box to the right of the goal. Duran took it and smashed it into the back of the net with finesse. Head coach of the Hurricanes, Gene Nelson, gave his thoughts about their first district win.
“It means that all our hard work has started to pay off,” said Nelson. “The guys have been putting in a lot of effort and a lot of work, and the results weren’t coming. I told them that if we get one or we get two, that we have to keep working hard and keep the intensity. So, we can’t just be happy with this one win. We have to keep building on it. I trust my players a lot. They give me input and I give them input. One of the guys, Carlos Duran, who scored both goals, said can I play up top. I said let’s try it. it wasn’t anything that I did, it was a suggestion that they made, and they trust each other.”
This wasn’t all she wrote quite yet for the Hustlin’ Tigers. They struck late hoping to turn the game back in their favor. A freekick would be taken strongly, but the keeper made an amazing save. The deflection would land right at Alan Perez Baltazar’s feet, and he finished it well. Unfortunately, time would be against them and the final whistle would blow leaving the game with a score of 2-1. Carlos Duran spoke after the match about his perspective.
“It feels really great out there today,” said Duran. “After that second goal we really picked our heads up and took things to another level. It is what we needed. The team really woke up after that second goal. It was something that we couldn’t break through, but we finally got through with it. it doesn’t really matter what time it was as long as we got them, and we did. We did it as a team and it changed the game.”
Game Summary
East Hamilton 0 2 --2
Howard 0 1 --1
Goal Scorers:
East Hamilton- Carlos Duran; Howard Tech- Alan Perez Baltazar.
Assists:
East Hamilton- Kellen Cuthbertson