BY AARON PATTERSON
Commercial-News
DANVILLE —
After dropping two games in a row in a weekend tournament, the Danville Vikings soccer team had a prime opportunity to bounce back.
The weekend wasn’t total disappointment with the losses coming against tough teams in Quincy Notre Dame and Columbia (Mo.) Hickman. But hosting their Big 12 Conference opener on Tuesday against Urbana, the Vikings had hoped to get an early edge on their conference rivals.
Instead, Danville dropped a 3-1 decision, extending its losing streak to three games.
“I’m pretty upset with how we played,” Danville senior captain Clayton Cottle said. “I wanted to win for sure. I have a lot of friends from there from the club season. I really wanted to take a win back.”
Shock might also have been an appropriate description, after Urbana took a 1-0 lead just 14 seconds into the contest.
The Tigers (4-1 overall, 3-0 in the Big 12) controlled the opening kick and immediately worked the ball to the right corner where Urbana’s Hector Melchor sent a pass across to Jonathan Lukusa who scored on a header. Lukusa gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead just 24 minutes later on an unassisted goal.
“I actually thought with them putting the ball in the back of the net immediately that maybe we would come right back with some fire,” Danville coach Chris Griffin said. “You never want to give up a goal, but when you do 10 seconds into the game, I expected our team to regroup and really come out at that point in time like it was the start of the game and really come out with fire in their belly.
“After their first goal, we should have come out like we did in the second half. It shouldn’t have taken 40 minutes and me pointing fingers and calling guys on the carpet for us to get ourselves ready to play.”
The Vikings (4-4, 0-1) did come out in the opening moments of the second half with a renewed intensity and the fire Griffin was looking for. Just over 17 minutes into the half, senior Dennis Forrest took possession at about midfield and plowed through the Urbana defense before sending a pass to an open Weston Depratt for the Vikings lone goal of the game.
“We came out real dull,” Cottle said. “We didn’t have much intensity in the first half. They put one in in the first 10 seconds on us, and we lost pride, I guess.
“They were in the lead, 2-0, and when the second half opened, we came in and put one in with about 23 (minutes) to go, had intensity, (but) couldn’t find the back of the net. We just fell apart from there.”
Adam Blackman’s goal following a foul with just over six minutes remaining in the game didn’t help Danville’s quest to keep the momentum on its side, either, pushing Urbana’s lead to the final 3-1.
“They know all of the Urbana guys,” Griffin said. “They’re friends with all of them. They talk, they text all the time with the guys that they are friends with. I expected us to come out with a little more fire in our belly than what we did.”
Danville goal keeper Stephen Mielke had 10 saves in the game, and the Vikings offense just missed on five opportunities in the first half on shots that sailed just over the top of the net.
With a quick turnaround (Danville hosts Bloomington on Thursday), the Vikings are hoping to regroup and snap a three-game skid that has quickly turned a promising 4-1 start sour.
Thursday’s game is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.
