Box Score STEUBENVILLE, Ohio – The Franciscan men's soccer team not only battled Marietta, Wednesday night, but had to take on Mother Nature as the Barons and Pioneers squared off in what could only be described as a torrential downpour. The Pioneers came away with a 5-1 win over the hosts in the rain-soaked game.
Marietta (1-2) took advantage of FUS' tentative play in the first half and quickly built a 4-0 lead. Zach Johnson posted his first hat trick of the season with three goals within an eight minute span.
"Nobody can prepare for this weather. The ball starts to skid on the grass and you get some funny bounces. Some of it was our tentative play, almost afraid to play in the water, afraid to make a mistake," commented head coach Ward Rogers on the rain and the team's play in the first half. "Marietta wasn't afraid to make a mistake, [they] figured the ball was going to slide, going to take funny bounces and they were just going to play their game."
Michael Nauls put the Pioneers up 4-0 in the 32nd minute as he collected the ball in front of the Baron defense and lofted it over the Barons and past the keeper to his left.
The rain began to clear a little and the Barons began to play more aggressively in the half, though Luke Saunders put the final touches on the Pioneer scoring after he made a quick play on the ball off a diving defender's body following a corner kick.
The Barons entered the break down 5-0 and needed an adjusmentt for the final 45 minutes.
"It was really more of a challenge to the players, we were trying to finesse the ball a little too much and in the second half, it came down to just who wanted to play. We changed the formation a little bit to get more strength in the midfield and then decided that the guys really needed to show us they wanted to play.
"The other team didn't let the weather stop them, they won every ball and we have to go out there and challenge them. They had to show us they wanted to play. When you put that challegen on the young men we have, they really rise to the occasion and came out much stronger in the second half."
The Barons cut the lead to 5-1 with just under 15 minutes to play with their only goal of the game. Sophomore Leo Herrmann drew a pair of defenders and allowed senior John Imbimbo to get open for a quick one touch pass and slide the ball past a diving Pioneer goalie.
"That's really what has to happen. Every team that we play has to know that we are going to try to get Leo scoring opportunities and they had to try and take them away. When that happens, Leo has to make sure he is making sure he is making sure other people can hurt them. And then he'll get his touch back. That forces other teams to start thinking about the other guys that can score, Imbimbo, they have to start thinking about Joseph Duran and Edwin de St. Aubin, Jace Vansteenburg, those guys that can really shoot."
Sophomore goalie Thomas Dosedal finished the game with five stops while his Marietta counterparts finished with one save.
The Barons have a week off until they take on Bethany next Wednesday. The game is set to kick off at 5:00 pm in Bethany, W. Va.
