Boys take down Demons 9-0 in Washington

With the final seconds of the first half winding down, Soloman Constant thought he could convert on what would have been a back-breaking goal.

Constant had already scored twice in the half, giving his Trojans a 2-0 lead, and had another opportunity in the waning seconds of the first half to make it 3-0.

With less than five seconds on the clock, Constant beat Washington goalie Thomas Zimmer, but his shot found the left post and careened away from the back of the net, forcing the Trojans to settle for a 2-0 halftime lead.

It turned out, they already had all the cushion they needed.

?I think the two goals at the end of the first half really helped our momentum, offensively,? Constant said. ?Defensively, we weren?t struggling too much. Getting forward in the first half helped us improve in our second half play.?

Constant added two more goals in the second half, as the Trojans ran away with the contest over conference rival Washington to take a 9-0 victory.

?The thing that impressed me wasn?t the score line,? Fairfield head coach Felisto Guezimane said. ?I just wanted to see the team continue to play and take advantage of the score to relax and play our game. We want to use that advantage to practice for tougher games.?

Fairfield improved to 2-1 on the season, and saw its conference record move to 2-0. That start in conference play is a welcome sight for the Trojans, who opened up last season 1-2 in conference action.

?It?s definitely an improvement,? Constant said. ?Last season we didn?t do too well in conference play, and this will help us going forward, especially when we have to play Fort Madison.?

The Trojans played with the wind for the first half, but couldn?t break through the Demon defense until 22 minutes in, when Constant broke free of the Demons and beat Zimmer (11 saves for the Demons) for the first goal.

Constant struck again in the 37th minute, knocking the ball in from a crowd in the middle, then nearly picked up the hat trick at the buzzer, but was robbed by the post going into the halftime break.

In the second half, the Trojans found their groove, as Constant netted two more goals to make it 4-0 in the 48th minute.

?We?ve been working on a lot of things, and this is our third game, so things are starting to click now,? Guezimane said. ?We were able to play our game in the second half and move the ball around.?

Brayden Miller added a pair of goals in the 64th and 66th minutes, while Shawn Spurrier netted a pair of goals, and Nicholas Frisbie added one of his own.

The Trojans earned the shutout on the day with keeper Robert Cupp staying relatively untouched, making four saves on the day for the Trojans.

?We?ll take the shutout,? Guezimane said. ?Kolten (Webber) was a big force on defense today, and so was Jordan (Guezimane). Defensively, we played very well. We were playing with one defensive midfielder to help the back line, and that was awesome.?

As the Trojans look forward, Guezimane noted that he is hoping to see continued improvement as the season goes on.

?I think we are halfway there,? Guezimane said. ?We still have a long ways to go (in the season) and a few key players out. Once we get them back we?ll have a better picture of what we?ll have later in the season. Right now, I?m impressed. We are looking pretty good.?

Fairfield will be back in action on Monday when they take on Centerville on the road.