Southern Shootout Report
021409
The Murphy Boys Varsity team finished the Southern Shootout with at 2-0-1 record and tied with St. Paul's for the Gold Division Championship. The tournament was marred by torrential rains that forced re-scheduling of some games and cancellation of others. Murphy's scheduled fourth game against Mountain Brook, a State Top 10 team, had to be canceled due to tournament officials having to reschedule so many other games which included moving games from grass fields to artificial turf fields at McGill-Toolen and UMS-Wright.
Murphy v. St. Paul's
Murphy played St. Paul's in the first round of the Southern Shootout.
After playing a scoreless first half, St. Paul's scored an apparent goal early in the second half but St. Paul's was called offsides and the goal was not allowed. Murphy kept pushing up on the offensive end and got a corner kick after St. Paul's kicked the ball out at the end line. Atem Kout scored on a header off the ensuing corner kick from Carlo Schick and Murphy went up 1-0 about 20 minutes into the half. St. Paul's immediately mounted a strong offensive push and came back and tied the score 1-1 about five minutes later on a shot from Joe Goodwin.
Both teams had chances to score afterward but neither could find the goal.
The game ended in a 1-1 tie.
Murphy v. McGill-Toolen
Murphy's second game was against former Section 1 rival McGill-Toolen. McGill has a young but talented team led by veteran coach, Travis Stone. The game was played on a soggy field at Cottage Hill Park which held up better than expected under the conditions.
The 6:30 P. M. kickoff was met with more torrential rains intermittently throughout the game.
Both teams had opportunities to score in the first half with McGill having a few more shots. The rained seemed to slow the play to some degree. With 8 minutes remaining in the first half, Austin Pasch had a go at a 35 yard shot that he took over the McGill keeper who had stepped up to about 10 yards out. The shot dropped as it approached the goal and got in just under the crossbar for a 1-0 Murphy lead. McGill made a hard push to get a score before the half but the half ended with Murphy leading 1-0.
The second half was met with more rain and an even sloppier field. Murphy had some opportunities early in the half to add another score and provide some cushion for themselves as the game continued but were unable to put any shots into the back of the net.
In the last 10 minutes of the game McGill sold out to the offensive end of the field and pulled their keeper up to midfield. The strategy worked for McGill as they got several shots and opportunities to score in the last few minutes of the game including several corner kicks. Kai Deiffenthaller has the best shot for McGill when his shot from the left side just inside the 18 hit the crossbar and was ultimately cleared by Thomas Roth.
Paul McDonald recorded his first shutout of the season and Murphy escaped with a hard fought victory.
Even though Murphy and McGill are not in the same Section anymore, Murphy will still play McGill at least once more this season since Murphy and McGill play again on the first day of the Island Cup at the end of February.
Murphy v. Catholic (Huntsville)
Murphy and Catholic High School of Huntsville played in their third game of the Southern Shootout at the UMS-Wright field on Saturday at noon.
Murphy appeared to suffer from the effects of it being the third game in less than 24 hours. Murphy made numerous mental mistakes as did Catholic. Catholic scored first and held a 1-0 lead for much of the first half. Murphy then scored on a breakaway in which Trey Adams headed the ball over the goalie and the ball hit the crossbar. The ball rebounded and Atem Kout volleyed it in for the score.
Catholic scored again to go up 2-1. Then Murphy went to a possission game in the second half and Carlo Schick collected a loose ball in front of the Catholic goal and volleyed it in to tie the game 2-2. Later in the second half, Schick took the ball deep to the right corner and dribbled around the Catholic defender and drove to the goal and put his left footed shot into the top of the net over the Catholic keeper for the 3-2 Murphy score and win.
Murphy now heads to section play against Theodore at home on February 17, followed by its second sectional game on February 19 at home against Blount who has re-started their soccer program after several years without one.