What a difference a few days can make.
The Aberdeen Central boys’ soccer team went from elation to frustration at Brownell Activities Complex. The Golden Eagles knocked off top-rated Sioux Falls Lincoln last weekend, but could never get going in a 2-0 setback to Brandon Valley in an Eastern South Dakota Conference contest on Tuesday afternoon.
“We really, really never even got going today. We were in first gear,” said Central coach Lance Mohr. “We tried getting them going. We tried changing it up a little bit, tried doing this, tried doing that, and we couldn’t get anything past first, maybe second gear for a few minutes.”
The Golden Eagles played into the wind to start the game, but soon fell behind when the Lynx scored on a free kick from 15 yards out in the 11th minute.
“We wanted to eat the wind right away while our legs were fresh and then try to keep one, but we gave away so many bad fouls right away, and then they score from a bad foul,” Mohr said. “We don’t defend the set piece and that’s how they scored, and that was the difference in why we were chasing the game.”
Brandon Valley took a shot that bounced off a player and got past Central goalkeeper Koltin Swearingen.
“It was ricocheted,” Swearingen said. “I initially went to the right, and it did go to the right, but it was an unlucky ricochet off of someone’s foot and it went the other way.”
Swearingen had a big day in goal for Central, stopping six shots and allowing the Golden Eagles to stay in the game.
“Koltin played great and we expect that out of him,” Mohr said. “He makes that stuff look really, really easy and it’s really not. He does just such a great job back there.”
Swearingen said keys are having the proper mindset and staying focused.
“It’s mostly about keeping your composure and keeping on your toes,” he said, “just determining where they’re going to shoot.”
Of course, that is easier said than done when the wind is blowing like it was on Tuesday.
“I really hate the wind. It makes it tricky to understand where it’s going, because it will go one way and then the other,” Swearingen said. “It annoys me, but it’s just staying on your toes and anticipating everything, even the worst.”
Central had its chances, including a penalty kick with 11 minutes left. However, the Brandon Valley goalkeeper was up to the task and turned the shot away as well as all the others he faced.
“When we don’t score penalties and when we miss some of the 1v1 opportunities we had today,” Mohr said, “it’s just not going to go any better than what it did.”
The Lynx added a goal in the final five minutes to help secure the victory.
Whether it was fatigue or an emotional let down from the Lincoln victory, the Golden Eagles were not their usual sharp selves against Brandon Valley.
“It’s just such a grind,” Mohr said. “We’ve played so many games in such a short amount of time already, we’re really just tying to get out legs back under us, and I didn’t think we had them today.”
Swearingen noted the major swing in emotions as well.
“It’s really a big difference from the highs we saw Friday and the lows we see today,” Swearingen said. “We will take this loss as a humbling for sure. Hopefully this will get us back on our feet, because that win was probably too much for us, honestly.”
Mohr said it is challenge to navigate the long season and keep the energy high for every single contest.
“Part of it is that we expelled so much energy on Friday,” Mohr said, “but it’s just such a challenging mentality to get an entire group to bring it every single game and that’s where we got to go next.”
Swearingen said the players have to be able to keep things in balance.
“It’s just keeping your same mentality the whole time,” Swearingen said. “(Today) showed we didn’t do that.”
Central plays at Yankton on Friday in another ESD matchup.
“We have to have a better effort, we have to have better connecting and all of those things,” Mohr said. “Until we do that, we’re not going to fix the results. That will come next.”
Brandon Valley 1 1 – 2
Aberdeen Central 0 0 – 0
First half: 1, BV, Rory Davis, 11th minute.
Second half: 2, BV, Nolan Bisbee, 75th minute.
Shots on Goal: Brandon Valley 7; Aberdeen Central 6.
Goalies: Brandon Valley, Lennox Kane (3 saves); Aberdeen Central, Koltin Swearingen (6 saves).
