Newcastle boys soccer entered Spring Break with a 3-0 record, beating teams from Duncan, Mount St. Mary and Astec Charter School.
Head Coach Tom Pecore gave credit to the whole team, but also pointed out that sophomore goalkeeper Cooper Hood has “a clean sheet,” with no goals in regular season play, and only one goal scored against him in a pre-season scrimmage. He also said junior Justin Haworth has been a difference maker.
“His positioning and play at center back have been terrific,” Pecore said.
The Racers beat Duncan 2-0 with goals scored by freshman Jace Ramanjulu and junior Jacob Cunningham.
“The first half the Racers stepped back because Duncan is a big, physical team,” Pecore said. “We made an adjustment on how we defend. They decided to get some grit and get after them physically, and we also are a lot faster.”
That made the difference, according to the coach, along with tucking in freshman midfielder Hudson Stewart. Scoring for Newcastle were Ramanjulu, Stewart, and Toby Betchelder, who had two goals.
“That game was cut short to only 60 minutes,” Pecore said, because of a window of rain.
Pecore said the Racers won the game because they are just a better team than Mount St. Mary.
“We put Cunningham on the corner and he bent one into the far left side of the goal,” Pecore said, adding that bending the ball is one of the most difficult shots a player can make.
Pecore also said junior Will Huff had a nice goal and an assist.
“He’s not a very fast player, but he’s quick in small places,” Pecore said. “We’ve used him as tradeoff between him and Jace. Where Jace is fast, Will is better at playing central.”
Against Astec, Betchelder again had two goals. Also scoring were Huff and Stewart.
“We scored within the first eight seconds of the game, but that’s not always a good thing,” Pecore said. “We kind of lost our discipline for the rest of the half. We got in a hurry.
Pecore said after halftime, the Racers adjusted and began playing within the system and then scored three more goals
Newcastle’s next game is March 21 against Kingfisher
