Big win for Mariner

Published 11:03 pm Friday, April 22, 2011

EVERETT — The Jackson Timberwolves were looking to wrap up the Wesco South boys soccer title with plenty of room to spare.

But the Mariner Marauders said: “not yet.”

Mariner used an impenetrable defensive performance and a goal from senior Bogdan Nikitov to defeat Jackson 1-0 Friday n

ight at Goddard Stadium.

With the victory Mariner (8-3 league, 10-3 overall) ended Jackson’s hopes of an undefeated season. The Marauders also kept their slim hopes of catching the Timberwolves (10-1, 11-1) in the conference standings alive.

“The monkey’s off our back today,” a beaming

Mariner coach Vince DeSimone said.

“Finally the boys got what they deserved,” DeSimone added. “We’ve always been unlucky. We’d dominate, but we wouldn’t score and then we’d give up a cheap goal. But tonight we were solid. This was no fluke, we played a good game.”

Mariner controlled play Friday. Senior forward Yahir Sandoval showed off all kinds of skills and tricks up front. Meanwhile, sophomore Miguel Medina bossed the midfield with his ability to win 50-50 balls and maintain possession while under pressure.

But it was Mariner’s ability to keep the Timberwolves far away from the Marauders goal that was most impressive. With senior Adama Drammeh and junior Alex Vladyka standing strong at the heart of the defense, Mariner managed to limit Jackson to just two shots at goal. DeSimone described Mariner’s defense as a, “steel shield.”

“I think Mariner was very organized on defense,” Jackson coach Brett Norton said. “I think their coaching staff did a good job preparing for us, and we weren’t able to break them down.”

The odds are still heavily in Jackson’s favor as far as the league title is concerned. Jackson, with 29 points, still holds a five-point lead over second-place Mariner. Both teams have just three games remaining, meaning the Timberwolves are still solidly in the driver’s seat.

“(Going undefeated) was never a goal,” Norton said. “I think as a team our goal is to win every game. But I think our main goal is to move on to district and earn the highest seed we can. When we set our team goals at the beginning of the season our goals were to get the No. 1 seed to district and get to state. It was disappointing (to lose the undefeated streak), but it wasn’t one of our goals.”

But Friday was Mariner’s night. For a while it didn’t appear it would be anyone’s night as little of consequence took place for more than 30 minutes, play getting bogged down in the middle of the field.

However, the Marauders began gaining the upper hand with 10 minutes remaining in the first half. First, Mariner had two free headers from a corner kick that the Marauders were unable to direct on goal.

Then in the 35th minute Mariner found the breakthrough. The ball skipped to Sandoval in space on the right, and he sent a low cross into the box. Nikitov, racing down the middle, got to the ball just ahead of Jackson goalkeeper Armando Huerta and scored with a powerful header, giving the Marauders the lead.

“That was beautiful,” DeSimone said of the goal. “I told Bogdan this was going to be his day. He and Yahir (Mariner’s strike partnership) play two different styles. Yahir plays the skilled Spanish style, Bogdan is the more driven, go-for-it style. Today they adjusted to each other pretty well.”

Jackson reorganized at halftime, switching several players between positions, and it seemed to help as the Timberwolves began possessing the ball better. Jackson had a good scoring chance nine minutes into the second half when awarded a free kick just outside the penalty box. However, Jordan Schweitzer’s shot blazed over, and the score remained 1-0.

From there the Timberwolves continued to try and break down the Mariner defense, but Jackson found no avenues through. And the Marauders remained dangerous on the counter attack. Aleksey Gabarik’s strip and quick shot from 30 years just drifted over the crossbar in the 60th minute. Then with time winding down Sandoval weaved through the Jackson defense and fired a shot from the right that was beaten away by Huerta.

Ulises Hernandez posted the shutout in goal for the Marauders. Though Hernandez was not tested by any shots, he was brave in leaping to claim crosses while dealing with heavy traffic.

“I’ve always said he’s the best keeper in the state,” DeSimone said. “I thought he showed a lot of maturity. He didn’t get frustrated, even when he was getting triple teamed (on crosses). He kept the whole team mellow.”

Mariner won despite playing without key midfielder Christian Rodriguez. The senior was serving a suspension for an earlier red card.