Marble Falls boys soccer beats New Braunfels Long Creek
CAPTION: Marble Falls’ Ismayl Ismaylov scored the winning goal to ensure the Mustangs completed the sweep of New Braunfels Long Creek Feb. 24. Photo by Shaunna Marcum/ShaunnaLisa, Cliffhanger Loop Productions
The Marble Falls High School boys soccer team defeated New Braunfels Long Creek 1-0 Feb. 24 in District 26-4A play.
The Mustangs’ (10-3-5, 6-1-1) goal came from Ismayl Ismaylov with the assist from Diego Lacayo with about 20 minutes remaining in the contest.
The Dragons did all they could to ensure the Mustangs didn’t score multiple goals like they did Jan. 30 in a 3-0 win. The hosts had the wind at their backs and triple-teamed Joaquin Aguilar.
“That wind was pretty rough,” head coach Ryan Craven said. “And honestly, I didn’t do a good enough job getting us mentally prepared after a long bus ride. So I blame myself a lot for us starting out slow.”
But the script flipped after the intermission.
“In the second half when we got the wind, we had the ball in their end of the field the entire second half and had what seemed like a million corners,” Craven said. “It wasn’t that many, but yeah, we had chances. We were getting ball closer and closer to the goal.”
It also helped that he changed formations.
“We played a 3-5-2 to try to alleviate some pressure off Joaquin,” the coach said. “We were playing with one striker with two wingers but then we played with two strikers and two wingers. They had to account for an extra striker up top. It puts stress on them, and it opened up the field for our midfielders and our midfielder Diego.”
Lacayo won a ball and passed to Ismaylov.
“Ishi made a good shot to the far post, a really nice shot to score,” Craven said. “They put a lot of pressure, more pressure on the the back line to where they couldn’t step up to our midfield, because they were occupying them.”
Before the season started, Craven believed the strength of the team was its defense and junior goalie Jett Marcum. Little has changed that.
“Our defense is good because we put so much pressure on opposing teams,” he said. “We’re not scoring goals like we’d obviously want to, but we have some guys who put a lot of stress on opposing defenses, which forces them to really have to adjust how they play, which makes us in turn better defensively because we’re putting so much pressure on these other teams.”
Marble Falls enters its bye Friday, Feb. 27, in first place with 19 points followed by Fredericksburg (6-5-1, 6-2) with 18 and San Antonio Davenport (9-3-3, 5-1-2) with 17. Fredericksburg beat Bandera 1-0 and will face Wimberley Friday, Feb. 27, while Davenport defeated Wimberley and will play Long Creek.
There’s a good chance the Mustangs will be sitting third when they return to the pitch for the final four matches of the regular season beginning with crucial contests at home against Davenport Tuesday, March 3, and at Fredericksburg Friday, March 6. The junior varsity plays at 5 p.m. followed by varsity at 7 p.m.
“It’s really going to come down to us three for the district championship,” Craven said. “But the good thing is we have a point up on them that allows this very little breathing room. Next week is huge for us.”
CAPTION: Marble Falls’ Joaquin Aguilar (20) draws a Dragon crowd as he and the Mustangs took on New Braunfels Long Creek. Photo by Shaunna Marcum/ShaunnaLisa, Cliffhanger Loop Productions
