Furnivall scores on PK, but frustrated Zebras fall to Peru
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Camdyn Furnivall scored on a penalty kick in the second half, but the Rochester boys soccer team lost to Peru 5-1 at the Brent Blacketor Memorial Sports Complex Monday.
Peru improved to 2-5. Rochester dropped to 2-7-1.
Peru had scored just eight goals in their previous six games and had been shut out twice.
Brayson Doyle’s shot that trickled over the goal line before a sliding Taya Tindi could stop it gave Peru a 1-0 lead in the ninth minute.
Braxton Caldwell made it 2-0 with 14:43 left in the half when he cleaned up a loose ball after a corner kick was deflected in the box.
Ben Hochstedler scored his first of two goals and made it 3-0 on an unassisted goal when he stole the ball from a Rochester defender and fired off a quick shot.
Rochester trailed 3-0 at halftime and fought off six Peru corner kicks in the first 13 minutes of the second half.
They cut the lead to 3-1 when a Rochester player was fouled in the box with 25:45 left, and Furnivall stepped up and beat freshman goalkeeper Ezekial Pate just to Pate’s left.
But just 2:23 later, Mason McGuire got the goal back for Peru with a 35-yard shot from the left wing that sailed over Rochester freshman goalkeeper Kevin Jones’ head and into the back of the net.
Another Hochstedler goal with 1:12 left completed the scoring.
“We didn’t play well,” Rochester coach Trevor Brown said.
Brown said his team “did not do much” against Peru’s attack, which appeared to be oriented to push down the middle of the pitch.
“I mean, ultimately, it always comes down to the head coach,” Brown said. “The team’s mentality reflects the coach. The performance reflects the coach. The coach hasn’t been good enough all season.”
Brown appeared to adjust some players’ roles, including moving Furnivall and freshman Rowan Heinzmann from the back line to forward positions and giving more playing time to freshman Ayden Jaeger and sophomore defender Van Kiser.
“We’ve been trying to find a combination that works, and we haven’t found it,” Brown said.
Brown acknowledged that both he and the players are getting frustrated. They have won only once in nine games since a season-opening win over North Miami, and the one win was by forfeit over Wabash because Wabash did not have enough players.
The team had a long postgame chat, including a session with Brown and a long players-only get-together.
“The season hasn’t gone as planned obviously,” Brown said. “We should be frustrated. To their credit, I heard some good leadership after the game. I heard some guys step up, relaying some positive messages and some encouraging messages. Spirit’s not broken, but it’s just tough when you’re not scoring goals and you’re not winning games.”
This was the first of three games on the week. The Zebras will also travel to Tippecanoe Valley at 5 p.m. today and host Maconaquah at noon Saturday. Peru, Valley and Maconaquah are all potential sectional opponents, and Maconaquah is the defending sectional champion.
“I mean, we need to win a game,” Brown said. “I think (today’s) Valley game should be a game that both teams should be excited for. I think both teams are going to go in thinking they’ve got a chance to win. It’s a rivalry game.
“Whether a team’s in our sectional or not, I don’t know if it really matters in the regular season. But we’ve just got to play better.”
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