Newark boys soccer shooting to rise

• Nathan Riedel’s goal with less than five minutes left gave Newark breathing room.
• Gavin Ristow made two late saves, filling in for the injured Killian Slone.

PATASKALA – Newark did not blast its way to a 3-0 start Saturday.

The Wildcats, however, improvised on the fly and took another victory any way they could get it. Thanks to Holden Matonak’s defensive heroics, the Wildcats earned a 3-0 victory at Licking Heights to give them their best start under coach Jon Quackenbush.

Newark led just 1-0 midway through the second half when Heights began attacking with a vengeance. With less than 15 minutes left, Nathaniel Amoah finally slipped one past backup keeper Gavin Ristow only to see Matonak make a sliding save along the back line and prevent the tying goal.

“Winning a game like this one shows their maturity,” Quackenbush said. “In the past in close games near the end of the game, we would make mistakes and give up late goals. We did the opposite. We came up with a couple goals late, which is huge for us.”

Otherwise, it was a sloppy game for the Wildcats, who might have been peeking ahead to the start of Ohio Capital Conference-Ohio Division play this week. They finally put the game away when Nathan Riedel deflected a Heights clearance into the left corner of the net with less than five minutes left.

With just a minute to play, Drew Harvey connected with Hunter Sutyak on a beautiful lead pass to give the Wildcats their final goal.

“We were getting pretty frustrated,” Riedel said. “We thought we would be doing better, but it was just an off game for us.”

The Wildcats put their fortunes in the hands of a band of freshmen two seasons ago. Now, they are a pack of juniors and have their sights set on moving the program up the ladder in the competitive central Ohio scene.

Overconfidence might have been a factor early as Newark attempted to beat Heights (0-3) to the box with long passes. Aside from Harvey’s solo run down the right side 10 minutes into the match, Heights’ defense, led by keeper Nate Hasson, turned away every attempt.

“The first half, I thought the difference in the game was we didn’t finish some of our early opportunities,” Quackenbush said. “I think we had nine shots, maybe five on goal and only finished one.”

Still, Newark tightened up when needed. The Hornets never had a shot on goal in the 65 or so minutes played by Killian Slone before he left with an injury. Ristow relieved and made two saves.

“We have a tough schedule at the beginning, so coming into (Saturday) with our second home game, we were expecting to take a win into Northridge, but we have to be able to finish,” said first-year Heights coach Lenier Crawford, who played football for the Hornets, but collegiate soccer at Shawnee State.

“We had plenty of chances to finish in our (box). We have to be able to play a little better defensively, but otherwise, the effort given today was not bad.”

Newark already has gained a measure of revenge on Delaware, beating the Pacers 2-1 on Thursday after the Pacers eliminated the Wildcats from the 2014 Division I tournament. Now, the Wildcats must navigate an OCC-Ohio, which usually is one of the most competitive in the state.

The Wildcats left Saturday’s match with plenty to improve, but nobody is taking a win for granted. This program has not had that many.

“It’s a win, but we still have to work on better communication and better touches,” Riedel said.

ksnyder@newarkadvocate.com

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Twitter: @newarkurt