Aurora – The relentless, icy wind hammering Legacy Stadium on Saturday afternoon fittingly was fit for only Norsemen and wolves.
Ask the few fans – clad in parkas, gloves and wool hats – who came to watch the Northglenn Norse and Grandview Wolves tangle in a 5A nonleague boys soccer match.
Long balls held long and high in the strong wind, which ceaselessly ripped into the artificial pitch from west to east, goalpost to goalpost, for 80 minutes.
The evenly matched teams tried to keep the ball on the turf, playing a short, crisp passing game to avoid the high- flying, any-player’s ball that could easily give up possession or yield a goal.
After a scoreless first period and exactly 20 minutes into the second period, Northglenn’s leading scorer, sophomore forward Marc Herschberger broke the stalemate on a loose ball 10 yards in front of Grandview goalkeeper Brian Sherpe and scored his eighth goal of the season on an assist by senior Bredan Victor.
Despite several scoring opportunities by the Centennial League’s Wolves in the final minutes of the frigid match – including Jordan Schafer’s shot that hit the right post above Norse goalkeeper Matt Mitchell – Northglenn held on for a 1-0 win that pushed its record to 8-0-1. Grandview fell to 6-2.
“With the wind at our backs we played the ball up more,” Herschberger said. “Bredan got the ball and took off. I knew it would be close between me and the goalie and I just kicked it past him.
“Playing into the wind, we wanted to keep the ball down. We didn’t want it hanging up there for a 50-50 ball that anybody could get.”
Grandview’s close shots after Northglenn’s goal – including a line drive from the left corner by senior midfielder Alex Wiese that Mitchell deflected with his hand – drove home a problem Northglenn had last year and apparently still does.
“The first 60 minutes we played really well,” said second-year coach Chad Eisentrager, who led the Front Range League’s Norse to a 10-4-1 record last season. “But once we got the goal, we panicked. We got into a defensive mode. We had the same problem last year. It comes from lack of experience. But a couple of seniors stepped up.”
Like keeper Mitchell, he said, and senior sweeper Tim Krigbaum.
“We were just way too excited after we scored,” said Mitchell, who has allowed just four goals all season and has tallied 20 saves. “We were lucky to come out with a win. We just have to work on not panicking.”
Grandview head coach Bruce Brown was flagged with two yellow cards after the match and an assistant coach was given one while they apparently argued a point with officials on the pitch.
Northlgenn 0 1 – 1
Grandview 0 0 – 0
Goal – Herschberger (Victor), 60:00.
Shots on goal – Northglenn, 3-3 – 6; Grandview, 3-2 – 5. Saves – Northglenn (Mitchell), 3-2 – 5; Grandview (Sherpe), 3-2 – 5. Corner kicks – Northglenn, 2-0 – 2; Grandview, 2-1 – 3. Yellow cards – Coach Brown (2), G, 90:00; Grandview assistant coach.
