Perrysburg’s London Stock turns to celebrate his goal just 55 seconds into a 1-0 win over Northview on Tuesday. (Nicholas Huenefeld | Sentinel-Tribune)
By Nicholas Huenefeld
Special to the Sentinel-Tribune
SYLVANIA — London Stock’s goal just 55 seconds in was all the Perrysburg boys soccer team needed on a rain-soaked night in a 1-0 win over Northview on the road at Cat Stadium Tuesday.
The victory, which improved the Yellow Jackets to 7-2-1 overall and 5-2 in NLL play, completes the season sweep over Northview, which includes a 1-0 win on Sept. 3.
“It was important for us to come out strong, and we’ve done that a few games in a row,” Perrysburg coach Dennis Jeansonne said. “We scored in under a minute and played through that the rest of the game.”
Stock provided two of Perrysburg’s three shots in the opening half. His other one went wide with 21:13 remaining, while Caden Geissler’s header off a corner kick with 6:08 remaining was saved.
Meanwhile, Northview’s offense racked up six shots in the first 40 minutes, including three on goal.
The best look came just under eight minutes in as a shot went just over the crossbar following a corner kick, and Perrysburg’s Tucker Benge followed with back-to-back saves 17 seconds apart in the 30th minute.
“That was a very gutty performance tonight,” Jeansonne said. “(Northview is) a much improved and fantastic team with a new coach. They have a great program, and we knew it.
“We had to play tough, and we gutted it out. Play was pretty even for the most part, but we had some fantastic chances at the end, and that was a hall of fame goalie over there making saves.”
The Wildcats continued to be pesky early in the second half as Benge and the Yellow Jackets cleared away a corner kick after it stalled a bit in front of the goal less than two minutes in.
Northview’s Xavier Hale had a shot deflected away 34 seconds later, and Benge used his right hand to bat away a dangerous cross on a corner 17 seconds after that.
The best chance for Northview in the half came with 26:33 remaining as a laser of a shot was saved by Benge, who leaped to initially bat the ball up before quickly shuffling to his right to corral the ball.
Following that, Perrysburg controlled the action, and they nearly added on to their lead with several great looks down the stretch.
Over the final 35 minutes, Perrysburg had five shots either deflected or blocked in a non-goalie variety.
On top of that, Northview’s Hutch Saggese also made six saves in that stretch, including several outstanding stops where he prevented goals in one-on-one opportunities.
In total, Perrysburg out-shot Northview 12-1 over the final 29 minutes.
“The first half wasn’t as strong as we’d like, but the second half was absolutely dominant,” Jeansonne said. “What you didn’t see was a lot of opportunities. I thought it was a very competitive game, and you didn’t see a lot of shots given up. I thought our team was dominant in not allowing shots, deflecting and stopping.”
Perrysburg will be back in action on Saturday at Olmsted Falls.
“I just love getting W’s right now,” Jeansonne said. “I was very proud of the team tonight. The conditions obviously weren’t great for either team, but they played their butts off for 80 minutes.”
