By TIM TAYLORTioga County Sports Report
NEWARK VALLEY — Groton jumped on Newark Valley early, but the Cardinals stole the momentum and rallied for a 4-2 IAC Small School victory here Monday with Elijah Williams accounting for all NV’s scoring.
“It was a repeat of the first time we played them,” coach Mitch Thurston said. “First time we played them, we gave up two goals early. We gave up an own goal and then we gave up a penalty kick within the first 10 minutes we were down there at Groton.
“We came back, tied the score and lost in overtime, so we knew we could compete with them. We started off the same way (today). Started off slow just like our warmups were slow.”
The Red Hawks wasted little time lighting up the scoreboard as Dylan Caswell shot high into the goal for a 1-0 lead at 38:04.
Brock Bushnell doubled up the margin with a goal in the game’s first 10 minutes also, putting the pressure on NV to respond.
The Cardinals did just that around the 22-minute mark of the first half when Williams worked the ball past two defenders on the left side, positioned himself in front of the goalkeeper and fired a low shot into the left corner of the net.
He would knot the score with about 10 minutes remaining in the half, drilling a shot past the keeper, who came out of goal to challenge the NV standout.
Williams would put NV in front, 3-2, before the half ended, then added another goal for good measure in the second half.
"One thing our team did was after realizing that we were down, we came back and we decided we really needed to step it up and start winning our 50-50s," Williams said, "and because of that, we were able to have more takeaways and runs up the field that led to scoring opportunities."
The first meeting was on Sept. 2 and things have changed at NV the past five weeks.
“We've made quite a few changes since the beginning of the year,” Thurston said. “Keeper’s changed and other positions. We made some good changes.”
The Cardinals outshot Groton, 13-6, while the Red Hawks grabbed a 4-3 edge in corner kicks.
Ethan Besler made five saves for the visitors while Austin Green had four for NV.
Newark Valley returns to the pitch Tuesday with a trip to Dryden.
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IN PHOTO 1: Elijah Williams. IN TOP PHOTO: Aiden Alger (13). … PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.
