Jared Schmeltzer
Reporter
In Thursday’s conference soccer game, Merrill hosted the D.C. Everest Evergreens. Merrill was taken down by a score of 4-0, keeping them out of the win column. But Bluejay coach Kyle Hahn did see some bright spots for his team.
“This was a much improved performance compared to the first time we played Everest,” Hahn noted. “Everest has a couple of players that gave us plenty of trouble the first time around with seven goals and four assists combined, so we built a game plan around shutting them down.”
Merrill allowed 14 shots on goal, which is eight less than they allowed last time against Everest. Although the Bluejays had a better effort this time around, they still were not able to get any of their three shots on goal to find the back of the net.
Coach Hahn went on to say, “Apart from a goal off a corner kick early on, we kept those two quiet and limited their opportunities. Brendan Root and Hayden Smith were responsible for man-marking them throughout the game and deserve a ton of praise for their effort and part in reducing their impact on the game. Overall, our defensive organization and communication was much better and gave us an opportunity to get on the ball plenty throughout the game. Coming into the game, we talked about playing everyone in conference better the second time around. The effort this group put into the game shows that we’re more than capable of achieving that goal.”