Jorn Hocter tallies 11 saves in Black Bears 1-0 win
COSHOCTON – On a night when one offense couldn’t take control of the game away from the other, goalkeeper Jorn Hocter and the rest of the River View defense stood tall and held on for 1-0 win against Marietta.
But it didn’t come easy: Hocter was forced to make 11 saves to push the Black Bears to victory Thursday.
“It’s always great getting a shutout, but I have to give it up to my defense and my team,” Hocter said. “Getting that goal early really set us, and our defense was really strong the whole game.”
River View scored in the first five minutes of the game, but before that came, Hocter had to hold his own against a Marietta offensive push.
A Marietta forward had a one-on-one opportunity with 36 minutes on the clock, but Hocter saved it diving to his left.
The ball rolled out of bounds, giving Marietta a corner kick, and Hocter saved that as well.
“Our keeper, Jorn, made some nice saves tonight,” coach Mike Burr said.
Immediately after Hocter’s save on the corner, the Black Bears went on the attack, and Christian Haller slotted a shot low and past the Marietta goalkeeper.
“I saw that the goalkeeper made a move in the opposite direction, I shot it and it was a goal,” Haller said. “It was a little bit of luck, but it went in.”
That goal carried the Black Bears through the rest of the first half; despite shaky play at times from the defense, the team’s intensity did not waver.
“Anytime you score first, it helps. I know throughout the preseason it seemed like we would always give up an early goal, so it was nice to get ahead and keep it going for the last 75 minutes,” Burr said.
In the second half, things got tighter for the Black Bears.
Marietta came out with more intensity and offensive attack from the start. But again, Hocter, Nick Gunn and the Black Bears defense stood tall.
The intensity for both teams rose even higher at the 17 minute mark, when junior Sawyer Gross went up for a header against a Marietta defender and was called for a foul.
The Marietta player proceeded to push Gross and a small shoving match between the two ensued. Each player was issued a yellow card.
“We had some of that at their place last year, and I know that was in the back of both team’s minds,” Burr said. “When that happened, all I was thinking was: ‘Just keep your composure.’ ”
Instead of turning the game into a more physical contest, the Black Bears slowed down and kept focused.
And although they were on defense for most of the last 10 minutes, in the final four, they were able to put some passes together and move the ball down the field, giving the defense a break.
In the last moments, Burr said he tried to remain as calm as possible.
“I’m the type of guy, on the outside I’m nice and calm, but on the inside it’s like a Richter scale,” he said.
Hocter was trying to keep his team confident.
“I was letting them know that we can’t let up when it’s a 1-0 game. That can’t happen,” he said.
In the end, the Black Bears earned their first East Central Ohio League conference win and will move on to play Hiland on Saturday.
“This feels good,” Burr said. “That was a team we felt we should’ve beat last year and we wound up with a tie. They are a nice team, and I’m just happy to get out with a win.”
cteaguerob@gannett.com
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Twitter: @cj_teague