Could Ford’s 2-0 victory against Utica Wednesday night be a turnaround game for the Falcons soccer team?
Coach Chris Alston is hoping it is.
“I hope it’s a breakthrough,” Alston said after the Macomb Area Conference White Division match that ended in a steady rain. “We just haven’t gotten the ball to bounce the right way. All of our losses were by one goal. We have the kids, we have the talent, we’ve been working hard. It’s tough to have all those losses and have every game so close.
“Today was a day where it just bounced the right way. Maybe we’re turning the corner at the right time. I’m not surprised what they did. This is a real good Utica team but my boys were up to the challenge today.”
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The loss knocked the Chieftains out of a three-way tie with Fraser and Romeo for first place in the division. The Ramblers and Bulldogs each won their games on Wednesday.
“The top four teams in the MAC White are very even,” said Utica coach Carl Territo. “We had a couple chances early in the first half. Maybe if we convert, it changes things a little. We were prepared to go to battle and they took it to us and they wanted it a little more. We just have to take care of business with Fraser and Romeo.”
Dylan Korkis scored both Ford goals. The first came on a header off a free kick from Spencer Krause with 11:31 remaining in the first half.
On the second, Korkis came down the right side and sent a high shot into the far corner of the net.
“Dylan is an elite player,” Alston said. “He came out of the (US Soccer Development) Academy. It took a little time for him to adjust to the high school level. The last couple weeks he’s really come into his own. Tonight is a good example of what he’s capable of.”
The Falcons are a dangerous team on restarts.
“We had our 6-foot-4 center back (Tarik Skokic) challenge the goalkeeper to where we thought we could have some chances on set pieces,” Alston said. “He was in the right place for the first one. He’s real dangerous defensively and on the attack on set pieces we like to put him in front of the box.”
Territo was wary of Ford on set pieces.
“Anything can happen on a restart,” he said. “We knew that was one of their strengths. Spencer can deliver a great ball and they have some big bodies up there. If you don’t mark up and take care of it you’re going to be in trouble if the ball bounces around.
“We had a plan for the second half but we didn’t implement the plan. When you identify where you need to go to be successful and don’t implement it, it just doesn’t work out. We got a little disheveled trying to chase the game.”
Skokic was one of the standouts on a back line that has played well all season for Ford. He’s joined by Solomon Gambone, Johnpaul Hanna and Ansu Fofana. Fofana is the only senior in the group.
“They’re a really good group of kids,” Alston said. “We don’t have a lot of juniors but three are along the back line so that’s some of the group we have coming back along with our goalkeeper (Arman Turkanovic).”
Alston was afraid that the string of one-goal defeats were beginning to wear on his team, so he talked to the squad before Wednesday’s game.
“These losses have been really tough to palate,” he said. “You wonder where their heads are so this might be really good for them. Monday we were in the same spot but we didn’t have the same mental space and Romeo came back. We had a real honest conversation among ourselves before the game today. Did the light switch go on? That we’re not going to lose another one-goal game. They sought it out. Hopefully, it’s something really important for them.”
Ford improved to 3-4 in the MAC White and 7-7 overall. Utica is 5-2 in division play and 11-4 overall.
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Source: https://www.macombdaily.com/2023/09/28/dylan-korkis-scores-twice-in-ford-soccer-victory-over-utica/
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