Seahawks Rally Past Crabbers

BERLIN- Stephen Decatur’s men’s varsity soccer team spotted visiting Crisfield an early goal on Monday before taking charge and beating the Crabbers, 3-1, to improve to 4-1-2 on the season.

Decatur and Crisfield spent much of the first half on Monday feeling each other out with both teams making forays into the other’s offensive end without putting the ball in the net. Finally, with just under 13 minutes remaining in the half, Crisfield got on the board with a hard shot from the perimeter past diving Decatur keeper Andrew Wagner to take a 1-0 lead.

After going 27 minutes in the first half without a goal, Decatur wasted no time answering Crisfield’s icebreaker, scoring just 45 seconds later. The Seahawks quickly moved the ball into the Crabber’s end of the field with a series of crisp, one-touch passes to set up the tying score. The last pass in the series found an open Jason Stitely in front of the Crisfield goal and the freshman converted the opportunity to tie the game at 1-1 with 12:15 remaining in the first half.

However, the scoring flurry wasn’t over. A little over a minute later, Decatur’s Dominick Mann worked the ball through traffic in front of the Crisfield goal and fired a shot past the Crabber’s keeper to stake the Seahawks to a 2-1 lead. After going 27 minutes without a goal in the contest, the two teams combined for three in a span of under two minutes, but that was all the scoring in the half, which ended with Decatur leading 2-1.

The second half began much like the first did with neither team able to score for a long period of time as the score remained 2-1. Each team had opportunities, but good defense and strong goalie play on both ends of the field conspired to keep the contest a low-scoring one. Decatur finally added an insurance goal late in the second half to seal the deal when Dylan Post lofted a high crossing pass in front of the Crisfield goal and E.J Gwinn banged it home with a perfect header to push the Seahawk lead to 3-1 with 5:34 remaining in the game.

Crisfield made a few more offensive runs in an effort to get back in the game, but the Seahawks were able to repel their advances every time and cruised to the 3-1 win. The Seahawks’ record now stands at 4-1-2. They play Bennett at home on Monday followed by a tough road game against Worcester County rival Snow Hill next Wednesday.