Khouri's Two Goals Lead Cyclones To 3-2 Win
PURCHASE, N.Y. (August 31, 2012) - After a slow start on a hot turf field, Centenary goalkeeper Jesse Goleman (Pittsburgh, PA, Taylor Allderdice) turned away a few Purchase opportunities before the Cyclones started to settle down and take possession of the ball. The Cyclones then began to create chances as Quinn Khouri (Eldersburg, Md, Liberty)cleared one off the line and had another one come back off the post. "We felt the momentum turn after Quinn had those chances," commented Coach Keith O'Connor, "With more build up play throughout the midfield, it was only a matter of time before we put one in."
Sure enough, the Cyclones central midfielders began to pressure up as Nicholas Telle (Union, NJ, Roselle Catholic) found captain Patrick Bourland (Vienna, NJ, Hackettstown) on an overlapping run which he was able to rip home past the Purchase keeper.
Through good sustained pressure, the Cyclones continued to pick up the ball at midfield and pressured forward to pushing the ball into the box. Telle found himself in a good position with options left and right, but quickly found Khouri moving up on his left. With a quick pass, Khouri was able to drive the ball past a diving Purchase keeper to make the score 2-0 in the 35' minute. Despite a few more chances for both teams, the half ended with the Cyclones ahead 2-0.
After a strong first half, the Cyclones coaching staff wanted to continue with much of the same performance they just saw moving into the second half. Coach O'Connor stated he liked what he saw in the first half, but "wanted a bit more pressure from our outside midfielders to deny the long ball over the top from their outside backs."
The Cyclones came out with much of the same tempo in the second half, but started to try and force the ball forward a bit too much looking for a third goal. Eleven minutes into the second half, Alex Khouri (Eldersburg, Md, Liberty) found Telle on a dangerous run down the flank. After beating the outside back, Telle cut inside and settled the ball yet again for Quinn Khouri, who finished with style, blasting the ball into the top corner to put Centenary ahead 3-0.
Down three goals, Purchase looked to push on, pushing three men up top trying to pull one back. Finally, the Panthers broke through and capitalized on a turnover in the midfield on a cracking strike from Blaise Bourgeois to make it 3-1 with 12 minutes to play.
Purchase continued to turn up the pressure on the Cyclones, making them really have to earn an eventual victory. After a miss clear by the Cyclones defense, the Panthers were awarded a corner kick where they were able to just clear one over the line off the foot of Danny Moallem with five minutes remaining.
After watching their 3-0 lead get down to one goal, the Cyclones felt the pressure starting to escalate. Purchase continued to push as they sent everyone forward trying to equalize, but the Cyclone defense held strong, taking home the eventual 3-2 victory.
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