Stingy Raiders keep Pirates at bay, make early score stand for one-goal victory

HANNIBAL, Mo. — The Hannibal boys soccer team won every statistical category against Quincy Notre Dame in its home opener except one.

The scoreboard.

Senior forward Leo Cann scored off a Brody Jones corner kick 5 minutes, 48 seconds into the game and goalkeeper Max Frericks recorded 10 saves to enable the Raiders to withstand a relentless offensive barrage by the Pirates to come away with a 1-0 victory Tuesday night at Veterans Field.

QND managed just two shots, both in the first half, and spent most of the contest defending on its end of the field. But a defense that had yielded 11 goals in its first three games never broke against a speedy and aggressive Hannibal team that got off 17 shots.

“It was a scrappy game,” Frericks said. “There’s gonna be a lot of games like that, more so in the playoffs. I think it was a good test for our defense to keep the ball out of the net.”

The Raiders’ goal came on their only corner kick of the night. Jones flighted the ball from the right corner to the far post and Cann went up to head it past the outstretched hands of Pirates goalkeeper Clayton Neisen, who posted shutouts in Hannibal’s first two games, both victories.

QND never had another good scoring opportunity. It has managed just five goals in its first four games, and three of those came against Ladue Horton Watkins.

“We’ve got to do a lot better job of maintaining possession and getting ourselves forward so we can get down to the other end and relieve the pressure,” Raiders coach Greg Reis admitted after his team evened its record at 2-2.

“I think a lot of it goes to Hannibal’s team. They play hard and they’re very aggressive. They’re fast all over the field. They did a nice job of keeping us pinned down on our own end and they created a lot of chances. Credit to my defenders and to Max at the back line for keeping the shutout.”

The Pirates applied pressure early and often, putting six of their 12 first-half shots on goal. They nearly tied the game in the final seconds of the opening half when Bodie Rollins drove down the left wing to the end line and sent a cross to the middle of the box. Pearson Parker’s header hit the crossbar and bounced straight down, and the Raiders were able to clear it as time expired.

“Obviously it felt good to turn around and know it hit the crossbar and not look around to see it in the back of the net,” Frericks said.

It was one of several frustrating moments for Hannibal.

“We’re going to be working on a lot of finishing drills this week,” Rollins said. “Honestly, I think we should have won that game 3-1. I mean, we played our butts off. For every chance they had we probably had nine. We just couldn’t finish, and we were unlucky. The ball that hit the crossbar hit the line just an inch away.”

Frericks went up to deny Rollins, who scored four goals in victories last weekend over Rolla and Neosho, early in the second half.

Minutes later, Rollins turned along the endline from the right wing and forced Frericks to the near post, exposing the net. Rollins sent a low cross to the middle, but no one was in the box to finish.

With 26 minutes left, Maddox Tharp sailed an open shot from the right edge of the box over the crossbar. Four minutes later, Frericks fell down on a corner kick, but the ball flighted through without any Hannibal player touching it. Later, Frericks batted away a point-blank shot by Colton Dryden.

The Pirates took eight of their 12 corner kicks in the second half and Rollins repeatedly was able to get deep in the Raiders’ zone for shots or crossing passes.

“It was frustrating before you told me we outshot them 17-2,” Hannibal coach Eric Hill said. “It’s not that we didn’t put them away because of lack of effort. We had some pretty good chances. Max is an outstanding goalkeeper, and he made some great saves on some balls we sent in.

“It’s just kind of a sick feeling knowing that we played really, really well. I don’t want to say we’re the better team, but I think we outplayed them. They’re a solid defensive team. Hats off to them. But to be able to do as many things as we were able to do right and still not get one in is frustrating.”

Reis knows it’s going to take time for this team to jell after losing 10 players from last season’s Class 1A state champions to graduation. The shutout against a good team was a step in the right direction.

“I’m pretty happy with where we’re at,” he said. “We have a lot of young guys who are trying to get into the flow of the game. I have a bunch of sophomores who are trying to figure out what the speed of a varsity game is.

“We have a long season ahead of us. There’s plenty of time for us to grow and learn and come together as a team.”