Prairie Soccer Wins
Prairie’s Hunter Domeier defends against a Richland Center player Tuesday. (Photos by Ted Pennekamp)
Anthony Irvin (19) and Hunter Domeier (9) battle for the ball with a Richland Center player.
The Blackhawks’ Ramon Gonzalez (18) chases down a Hornets’ player Tuesday afternoon.
Prairie’s Preston Hendrix attempts a shot on goal versus Richland Center Tuesday afternoon at the Bluff View pitch.
Prairie soccer team gains 3-2 conference victory
The Prairie du Chien boys soccer team kicked off Homecoming Week Tuesday night with a home win over the conference rival Richland Center Hornets.
The teams sparred evenly the first 30 minutes of the game. At the 33-minute mark, a wet ball slipped through grasping goalie gloves to put Center on the board, 1-0.
Prairie countered at 42:06 when Clayton DuCharme broke through and nicely slipped the shot past the Richland Center keeper. The 1-1 tie stood till the 45-minute halftime break.
In the second half, the Blackhawks raised their level of intensity and control. The middle fielders; Weston Hill, Hunter Domeier, Ramone Gonzalez and Josh Dyer, did a great job of spreading the field and working the ball. On defense, Anthony Irvine’s strong leg gave the Hawks great position on goal kicks. Sam Peterson and Joey Gordon sealed the back line and Ben Teynor, Blake Garcia and Isaac Nichols frequently called switches and moved forward in a striker role to drive the ball deep into the Center side of the field.
In the 52nd minute, the switches paid off. Ben Teynor drove the full length of the field to the deep right corner and then delivered a nice pass across the front of the goal to Preston Hendrix who tapped it in for the go ahead second goal.
Defenses tightened the next 30 minutes of play. At the 84:44 mark, Clayton DuCharme took a penalty kick from 23 yards out. With the Richland goalie lined up on the left side of the box and the defending wall on the right, DuCharme nailed the kick to the right of the wall, left of the post and in for PdC’s third goal.
The Blackhawks’ 2-goal lead only lasted 54 seconds. Richland Center countered on their own direct kick to make the score 3-2.
Prairie’s defense stayed strong and focused the last intense and exciting five minutes of the match and finished with the victory. Ryan Thein had an outstanding evening in goal with 18 saves.
The excitement continues on Thursday when the team hosts Platteville-Lancaster for a second Homecoming Week match on the Bluff View pitch at 4:30.
