(Photo provided by Ross Cohen/Cortland Voice).
Yesterday, after a close rivalry game at SUNY Cortland, the Cincinnatus Lions were able to come up with a (3-1) win over the McGraw Eagles.
At first the Lions did not have a great start to the game. With the Eagles controlling the midfield through the first 15-minutes of the game.
With McGraw keeping possession of the ball at the start of the game, they were also able to connect their passes down the sidelines, breaking Cincinnatus' defense; which is when the first goal of the game was then scored by McGraw senior forward, Evan Ignatowski off an assist from fellow senior Dominik Cook with 27:16 left in the first half to make it (0-1).
After that, the Eagles began to push back with the Lions taking back control of the field with them trying to get a goal before the end of the first half.
Finally, after attempting many shots on goal, the Lions were able to get one in with 7:12 left in the first half to make it (1-1). The goal was scored by junior midfielder Jacob Smith off a low cross from fellow midfielder Jordan Larrabee.
Following that, with McGraw's defense still trying to recover from that goal, Cincinnatus struck again, giving them a 2-1 lead right before the end of the first half. This time with Larrabee scoring off an assist from Smith with 5:34 left in the first.
(Photo provided by Ross Cohen/Cortland Voice).
"We went with a different style to put more aggression in their front players and a four men half to own the midfield. It didn't show up until ten minutes in the game, but after that the midfield was pretty much ours," said Cincinnatus head coach Gordon Brown. "We don't panic. There is no need to panic. It's an 80-minute game. So if they stay calm and I say calm, they can usually figure it out."
Coming into the second half, the game became a midfield battle. With McGraw trying to tie the game up, while Cincinnatus trying to score one more goal to give them a comfortable lead.
"We just needed to create more chances," said McGraw head coach, Jamey Crumb. "The few that we had were really good. All of them were basically on goal, but we didn't create enough of them. We only had two corners and we're used to getting at least four or five. We put Jackson Card and Evan Ignatowski outside to use the flanks more, because they are very fast and skilled, but they (Cincinnatus) were also very skilled in the middle. So that was our battle the whole game."
With the clock winding down and the Eagles trying to get one in before the whistle, the Lions were able to break through the Eagles' defense with junior midfielder Nolan Rice scoring off an assist from fellow midfielder Cason Stafford; making it (3-1) and ending the game with 5:56 left in the game.
"It was a huge win for us today," said coach Brown. "It's hard to keep the kids at a level playing field on a game like this, but they settled down and played very well."
