Terra Linda’s Ruthwick Challagonda is difficult enough to stop during the run of play but on set pieces, he’s downright deadly.
Challagonda found himself in two such situations against Drake on Wednesday and scored on both occasions, lifting the Terra Linda High boys soccer team to a 2-1 victory.
“We’re gonna try to limit those opportunities but once they happen … you take a deep breath and hope for the best,” Drake coach Rene Ayala said. “You hope that he makes a mistake or he hits the post or hits it into the wall. At that point, you’re at his mercy.”
Challagonda gave the Trojans (8-0-1, 8-0-1 MCAL) a first-half lead on a penalty kick he drew in the 15th minute then scored again in the first minute of the second half, curling a free kick into the bottom-right corner from just outside the 18-yard box.
Challagonda with the pk for TL. #marinsoccer pic.twitter.com/so05MTTSLb
— Ian Ross (@IRossMIJ) January 16, 2020
“He causes those set pieces because of how frantic he makes the defense,” Ayala said. “He breaks a defense down. Next thing you know you’re reaching, you’re stabbing, and that’s when you foul him.”
With the defense pretty much powerless to stop him on both occasions, Challagonda provided clinical finishes — chipping the ball to the right side to score the penalty kick then placing the ball around the wall and into the bottom corner on the free kick.
Challagonda’s free kick proved to be the winner in a 2-1 victory against Drake. #marinsoccer. pic.twitter.com/GDD4s0ZKgY
— Ian Ross (@IRossMIJ) January 16, 2020
“Jason Hsu was right there on the edge of the wall and he moved out of the way right on time,” Challagonda said of his second goal. “I just used the inside of my foot and curled it in.”
Challagonda brought his scoring tally to 13 goals in nine MCAL games and helped the Trojans extend their winning streak to eight games — picking up one victory against every other MCAL team in the process. Drake (5-3-3, 4-3-2) remains the only team to take a point off TL, having battled the Trojans to a 1-1 tie in the first game of the season.
“First and foremost is their work rate and their attitude,’ TL coach Mike Crivello said on why Drake is such a tough team to play against. “They battle every minute. If they were up 4-0 or down 4-0, you would never know. They play incredibly hard. They make everything incredibly difficult and on top of that they have some incredible size. Most of these varsity teams in MCAL are big but they’re big on a different level.”
The size discrepancy between the two teams was always going to be part of the story but it was magnified when Drake center back Erik Hargedahl left the game in the 25th minute with an ankle injury.
“I never thought I’d have to say we have to take out a center back but (Hargedahl) started every attack with his accuracy,” Crivello said. “The way he was hitting balls into our back line, usually we wouldn’t mind that but it was so hard for us to win the first ball never mind the second ball.”
Drake’s other towering center back, Logan Smith, helped the Pirates score the equalizer in the 33rd minute. Miles Crock took a long throw-in for the Pirates. Smith produced a flick header into the center of the box and Zack Lillington headed it home to tie the game at 1-1.
Smith also left the game with injury sustained in the second half, negating much of the size advantage Drake had enjoyed.
“It completely changed it from an aerial game to a ball-on-the-carpet kind of game and that suited Terra Linda to a tee,” Ayala said. “We had to scramble and try to find opportunities on the ground. They just ate everything up. (TL goalie Aly Alvarado) ate everything up. Every service over the top, because we didn’t have that height, he was just catching everything.”
Drake’s best chance at a second equalizer came on a free kick in the 51st minute from about 30 yards out but it sailed harmlessly over the crossbar. Although the Pirates continued to push numbers forward, TL’s defense was there to break up every attack.
“They still had the size advantage over us so, for me, coming out more as a keeper, using my hands to my advantage — coming out really helped me and the team win all the balls in the air,” Alvarado said.
Around the county
- Samy Wahab scored the winning goal with about 6 minutes to play, lifting Tam to a 1-0 win under the lights at San Rafael (5-3-3, 5-3-1). Sebastian Ghosh provided the assist for Tam (6-3-1, 6-2-1), which moves into sole possession of second place, six points back of the league-leading Trojans.
- Redwood (6-4-1, 5-3-1) put four goals past Branson (2-8-2, 1-7-1) to move above Drake and into a third-place tie with San Rafael. Adam Zollezzi, Adam Wilson and Miles McGrath scored goals for the Giants.
- Novato and San Marin battled to a 1-1 draw. Eduardo Amador scored for the Mustangs (1-8-2, 1-7-1), who also saw Jordan Kennedy hit the post.
2020-01-16 04:30:00Z
https://www.marinij.com/2020/01/15/boys-soccer-set-pieces-prove-critical-as-terra-linda-extends-its-win-streak/
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