Fleetwood keeps yet another clean sheet with 2-0 over Twin Valley
ELVERSON>> The Fleetwood Tigers have played 13 soccer matches this season. They now have shutouts in 11 of them.
The Tigers kept the goose eggs coming Monday night at Twin Valley with a 2-0 win over the Berks League Section 2 rival Raiders.
Monday’s whitewash extended Fleetwood’s current shutout streak to three matches; the club kicked off the season with five consecutive clean sheets. Only a 2-1 win against Exeter and a 9-1 win over Schuylkill Valley have seen the opposition find the net against the Tigers (13-0, 7-0), who have cemented their grip on Section 2 as the regular seasons winds down. The Tigers previously beat the Raiders 1-0, back on Sept. 16.
Jeff Edger-Haffner and Zach Wanner had Monday’s goals for Fleetwood. Edger-Haffner scored just 4:25 into the contest on a sweeping right-to-left ground stroke that beat Twin Valley keeper Chris Mundell to the low left post; Wenner buried insurance with 3:27 to play in the opening half on a solid strike in the right-side area, from about eight yards out, off a headed pass in the box from teammate Michael Favata.
Fleetwood, the defending District 3 Class AA champ, has now outscored its opposition 37-2 this season. The Tigers continue to display a backline speed, agility and tactical awareness often reserved for wingers in the high school game — and they’re doing it without their best player, senior center back Nick Hope, who is missing time with an ankle injury.
“We’re playing brave right now,” Fleetwood head coach Keith Schlegel said. “And our best player (Hope) has been out for the last two weeks. He’s one helluva player; hopefully he’s coming back by the end of the week. We’ve been playing well without him, but it helps when you have someone who runs the 100 in 10.9 back there — then no one gets behind us.
“We don’t give up a lot of shots. We’re usually 2-3 shots against per game. And sometimes you need a little luck and we had that tonight.”
Indeed. Streaks like this have to include a sprinkling of pixie dust. The host Raiders (9-5, 3-4) created some solid chances for themselves but could not dent the scoreboard. Perhaps the best scoring chance of the evening came when Cameron Rice’s header hit the crossbar in the 21st minute, with his team down a goal.
During the second half, Fleetwood keeper Kyle Kierstad smothered a chance from point-blank range with a host of Twin Valley shirts descending, looking to bounce on a rebound that never came.
Both Mundell and Kierstad were excellent in net. Mundell had to make six saves off eight Fleetwood shots, while Kierstad stopped all four he saw.
There had to be some frustration for the Raiders and head coach Christian Murray, who played their guests even for long stretches and tried counterattacking with straight-forward play. There wasn’t much in terms of build-up; Twin Valley went bombs away for long stretches. Even without Hope back there, Fleetwood ‘s backliners took strong pursuit angles to the ball and smothered the majority of the counters.
“We really worked hard on the counter, we like to play that counterattack game,” Murray said, “but it just wasn’t there for us tonight. We usually like to go vertical down the wings, but tonight I think going through the middle was kind of giving them some problems. We didn’t convert any, but it gave them some problems.”
“Certainly, we like the process. Results are good and they’re important, but there are definitely some things we can take from tonight that can help us going forward. You can play poorly and win, you can play well and lose. That’s soccer.”
Fleetwood – 2 0 — 2
Twin Valley – 0 0 — 0
First Half
F – Jeff Edger-Haffner (Matt Schlegel), 35:45
F- Zach Wanner (Michael Favata), 3:27
Shots on goal
F 8, TV 4
Corners
F 3, TV 5
Saves
F (Kyle Kierstad) 4, TV (Chris Mundell) 6
