Bethel women's soccer drops close home KCAC opener, men dominate York
Bethel women's soccer drops close home KCAC opener, men dominate York
Maksimovic earned his second hat trick of the season in the contest.
After playing away from home for a month, both Bethel soccer teams were back in action at Thresher Stadium on Wednesday. This time, it wasn’t another preseason game; it was their conference opener at home. They would host the York Panthers where the women’s team would fall 2-1 and the men’s team would end up on top 6-1 after another Filip Makismovic hat trick.
The women's team would play first. Injuries have bugged the women’s midfield lately which forced the Threshers to make changes, giving younger players more time on the pitch. Maddison Strauss is one of the freshmen who has risen to the occasion and received more minutes.
“I'm super excited about more minutes. I'm sad that it's due to our players getting injured,” said Strauss from Loxley, “I am super excited, and I'm excited to play a big role.”
It was a challenging first half as both teams would try to get something going. Bethel would look to retain possession of the ball and keep swinging it around. The Threshers struggled to find the final pass in the last third of the pitch.
This contest would go into half-time scoreless as both teams failed to get on the board. During this time, the Threshers looked to get more organized in the midfield. Bethel was able to establish possession of the ball coming out of the half-time break.
The Panthers were able to get ahead in the game as a shot ricocheted off the crossbar unto one of their strikers, who was able to find the back of the net. Bethel tied the game two minutes later as a handball was called inside the box. Senior Taylor Dashney was able to convert the penalty. The Panthers found the back of their net again at the end of the game to win.
“We've been battling with a couple of injuries, some big players that have gotten out of the picture just because of injuries,” said head coach Ignacio Milla, “We've been trying to adjust a lot of younger players getting roles.”
This result puts the women's team record at 5-4 for the year overall and 1-3 in the conference.
The men's team took the field following the women’s game. The men’s team was coming into their conference home opener after two great results in the previous matches.
Bethel would have a slow start to this game. In the first 20 minutes of the game, York looked to go forward but was not able to get anything going. After a slow start, the Threshers were able to get a penalty. Maksimovic was able to convert the lone goal of the half.
Bethel came out firing on all cylinders as less than two minutes into the second half, senior Cristobal Goldberg found the back of the net with an assist from Maksimovic. Captain Lucas Pardo was able to find Maksimovic twice in three minutes to bring the score to 4-0. It would bring Maksimovic to a hat trick on the night, giving him his second on the season.
“I love scoring goals so it means a lot to my self-confidence,” said Maksimovic from Belgrade, Serbia. “I'm always gonna say that the team's results mean more than the individual award you get at the end.”
The Threshers were not able to keep a clean sheet as senior goalkeeper Sean Holness conceded a penalty. York converted from the spot, bringing the score to 4-1. Maksimovic found the net four minutes later completing his poker on the night with one assist. Bethel added one more goal from senior Mussawair Ahmed, who was assisted by senior Louis Etienne.
“Expectations are always high. We started slow and needed a solid 15-20 minutes to get into the game,” said head coach Luka Milicevic. “The team had an amazing second half it was great to see everyone celebrate together.”
This brings the men’s record to 3-3-3 on the year and 2-1-1 in conference play.
Both teams will be back in action on Saturday as they welcome Southwestern College. The women’s game is scheduled to kick off at 4 p.m. while the men’s game is scheduled to start right after at 6:30 p.m.