MP boys drop defensive battle

By Andy Krutsinger, Mt. Pleasant News

The ball just couldn?t get on net for the Mt. Pleasant boys? soccer team on Thursday evening.

The Panthers took on non-conference foe Burlington at East Lake Park in a defensive battle that ended with Mt. Pleasant going scoreless and falling 1-0.

The wind at East Lake was howling in the first half and teams had trouble with longer shots towards the goal, but Burlington did find the net one time.

With 14:15 remaining in the half, the Grayhounds sent a roller past Nathan Rauenbuehler that trickled over the line, despite a strong effort by Hoi Phung to chase the ball down.

Burlington led 1-0 at halftime but the Panthers had the winds to their backs and had a handful of chances to tie things up.

The Hounds had a couple of good chances midway through the second half. With 26 minutes left, a Burlington forward squirted one past Rauenbuehler that just went wide left, and then Rauenbuehler was forced to make a diving save just over one minute later.

The best chances for the Panthers came in the last three minutes of play. Ovidio Reyes Cardona found the ball on his foot after a deflection in front of the net with 2:15 remaining but his shot just went over the cross bar for no goal.

In the final minute, Maison Ashton stepped up from his defensive position and let one fly but it narrowly missed the goal, going wide left.

As the final seconds ticked down, Mt. Pleasant earned a corner kick. A charging Rauenbuehler bursted into the box after sprinting from his own goal but he couldn?t get a redirect to go on net and the Panthers walked out with a one-goal loss.

?We played well (but) we need to put a few more shots on goal,? said head coach Neil Schmitz after the game. ?That has been our problem in all three of our losses?We only had one shot in the first half so that tells a big tail right there.?

The Panthers fell to 1-3 on the year with the loss. They?ll look to improve on their 1-2 conference record on Monday, April 24, when they host Washington at 4:30 p.m.