Plymouth nets first win against Northville in, well, a long time
Plymouth’s Brendon Burkett looks for an open teammate after helping to extinguish a Northville scoring threat Thursday night.
Heading into Thursday night’s match at Northville, the last time Plymouth’s varsity boys soccer team had earned a victory against Northville, most of the Wildcats were in elementary school.
It may not have been as simple as A, B, C, but Plymouth posted a solid 2-0 triumph over the host Mustangs.
Now 4-3 overall and 2-2 in the KLAA West Division standings (identical to Northville’s division record), the Wildcats’ effort was fueled by several players, particularly senior defender Alex Vega, who scored the match’s first goal when he headed home Eli Ring’s corner kick 16 minutes into the contest.
(To check out a video of Vega’s goal, click here.)
Vega is Mr. Versatility
Vega, the team’s quarterback on defense (as well as the co-leader with Henry Maitland in goals scored with three), also played a huge role in helping junior keeper Logan Studenka post a clean sheet.
“On the play when I scored the goal, I ran back (away from the net), lost the guy who was defending me and ran to the front post,” Vega explained. “Eli made it easy for me by putting the ball on my head with a great delivery.”
Vega was one of many difference-makers for the Wildcats, who also received stellar efforts from Garrett Meeks (who earned the team’s coveted “Hard Hat Award” for his work), mid-fielder Brendon Burkett and Simon Sherman, who booted home Plymouth’s second goal of the night on a rebound off a shot by Anthony Ljubevski.
‘One team. One dream.’
“Alex is a stalwart back there for us,” said Plymouth Head Coach Glenn Ligouri. “We rely on him to make all the defensive calls and do everything back there. He’s this year’s Spencer (Prouty) in that he’s very dependable.
“Our philosophy this year is staying positive and getting the team to play as one. Our vision is: One team. One dream. This is the first win I can remember against (Northville Head Coach) Henry Klimes in the seven years I’ve been here.”
Northville, which was playing without injured standout forward Ryker Gorman, worked the ball efficiently until it entered the 18-yard box, where threat after threat was extinguished by the air-tight Plymouth back line.
Alumni game on tap
The Wildcats were on the brink of scoring a third goal, but were denied on spectacular first-half save by Northville keeper Daniel Shen.
Plymouth will host an alumni game Friday night at 6 p.m. before hosting Chicago Taft at noon on Saturday.
Ed Wright can be reached at 734-664-4657 or edwright@socialhousenews.com.
