Busy week as GHV boys soccer team kicks off season

(Above) You’d think this was a football game, as GHV’s Austin Bahensky gets tackled by a H-D/CAL player.  Bahensky scored two goals for GHV in the 6-0 victory.  -Reporter photos by Chris Barragy

by Michelle Watson

The Garner-Hayfield-Ventura boys soccer team opened the season with two wins, before falling in the third game of the week.

GHV 6, H-D/CAL 0

The Cardinals recovered from a slow start when they faced Hampton-Dumont/CAL on Monday, April 1.

The team had trouble controlling the ball early in the game, but halfway through the first half they started making better decisions with the ball and started to record some goals.  The Cards topped H-D/CAL, 6-0.

“Throughout the game we applied pretty good pressure, but we need to work on playing with more discipline when guarding the ball and keeping our head up when dribbling and prior to receiving a pass,” said Coach Joe Albertson.

Logan Dalbeck manned the goal a majority of the game.  He had two saves.

Jared Graham scored two goals, one on a penalty kick.  Austin Bahensky also had two goals, while Jared Shaw and Kevin Meyers had one goal apiece.

Bahensky and Ryan Hackenmiller each had one assist.

GHV 5, Denver 1

A much improved Cardinal team picked up a 5-1 victory over Denver on Thursday, April 4.

“We were much better with our spacing and our runs.  We were able to put good pressure on Denver’s backline in the first half, even though we had no goals to show for it,” said Coach Josh Banse.

The Cardinal defense held Denver to just a few shots in the first half, while facing some strong winds.

During the first 20 minutes of the second half, a relentless team created many opportunities for goals and found the back of the net five times.

“Our defense wasn’t tested as much in the half, but when they were, they limited Denver to more difficult shots,” said Banse.

Jared Shaw led the team with three goals.  Jared Graham and Austin Bahensky had one goal apiece.

Joe Pringnitz and Bahensky had one assist apiece.

Logan Dalbeck recorded two saves and had one shot scored against him in the goalie position.  Matthew Barrickman also saw some time in the net and had one save.

Spirit Lake 1, GHV 0

The Cardinals knew it was going to be a tough matchup when they faced Spirit Lake on Saturday, April 6.  The game was played at Waldorf College, so adding to the difficulty was the fact the field is turf.

“Our guys adjusted well to playing on the field, but it took them until midway through the first half,” said Coach Joe Albertson.

The team was playing with two starters out with injury and a few athletes playing out of position.

“Landon Dalbeck had a great game goalkeeping,” said Albertson.

Dalbeck was credited with three saves.

“Even though we didn’t get as many looks at the goal as we had in the first two games, we had some really nice chances to put in a few shots,” said Albertson.