Men's Soccer: Knights Down Cardinals 7-0 in Cross-Campus Match
By Jordan Ganzermiller
Six different players scored for the Knights, including a pair from sophomore Storm Robinson, last night in the Knights' 7-0 victory against CCBC Catonsville at CCBC Essex Stadium.
The Knights are now tied for first place in the Maryland Juco Conference and have sole possession of the top spot in the NJCAA Region XX.
For the first 10 minutes, the Knights dominated the game and the Cardinals were finding it hard to keep up.
The first great chance for the Knights came in just the 2nd minute of play.
Nehemiah Crawford (Baltimore City College) won the ball back from a Cardinal defender deep in the Cardinal's half.
He dribbled the ball to the end line and played a soft pass back to Storm Robinson (Our Lady of Mt. Carmel), who took a shot from 12 yards out to the bottom left corner, which was blocked by Cardinals keeper Brandon Basilio.
In the 7th minute, the Knights (7-5, 7-1 Maryland Juco) broke the deadlock. Storm Robinson won a header eight yards away from goal and directed it into the upper right hand corner.
The assist came on a wonderful cross by Javon Dawkins.
"I'm gifted with both of my feet," Dawkins said. "[My teammates] look to be in places where the other team can't reach the ball."
In the 40th minute, the Knights doubled its lead.
CCBC Essex won a corner kick, which was taken by Javier Avetrani (Oakland Mills). The cross was cleared, but right to Alexander Munley, who took a touch to settle the ball, then struck a volley into the upper right-hand corner.
The Knights took a 2-0 lead into halftime.
When the second half opened, so did the flood gates, as the Knights began to run away with the game.
In the 46th minute, Storm Robinson took the ball down the left sideline and crossed it to Crawford who touched the ball into the goal from four yards out.
Sophomore Steve Momenya picked up the Knights' fourth goal in the 57th minute.
Avetrani took a free kick from 40 yards away and Momenya finished with a wide open header from 12 yards out.
Dawkins claimed a goal of his own to earn the Knights their sixth.
In the 59th minute, Gaige Robinson played a lofted through ball over three defenders, which was met by Dawkins at a tough angle, and ended up in the back of the net.
Storm Robinson completed his brace in the 62nd minute.
The Knights were passing among one another, very impressively, and when it broke down in the Cardinals box Storm Robinson volleyed the ball to the lower left-hand corner.
The last goal from the Knights came from a combination of two substitutes.
CCBC Essex went on a break and Basilio came out to meet it, but the ball bounced to freshman Thaliek Willis (Joppatowne).
Willis cut the ball back and played it to freshman Luis Vazquez (Sussex Technical), who finished with a shot to the middle of the goal before Basilio could recover.
"This year in [the conference] there's been a lot of crazy results," said head coach Joe Fiedler. "The coaching staff and I have been on our guys to focus on the game at hand. We did a good job concentrating on this game [against CCBC Catonsville] and had a really good second half."
The Knights have scored 21 goals in its past three games and look to ride that wave to a fourth straight victory on Thursday when they host Maryland Juco foe Montgomery College.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at CCBC Essex Stadium.
Knights' Notes
Nehemiah Crawford and Storm Robinson have each scored eight goals, which rank them in a tie for sixth place in the Maryland Juco Conference. Crawford's 19 points are tied for the seventh most in the conference.
Trevor Brookhart's goals against average (1.40) and save percentage (.821) rank fourth and third, respectively, in the conference. His 55 total saves are tied for fourth.