Faith in the defense
- Updated: April 28, 2015
[corner-ad id=1]Two first-half goals, historic shutout send Lions into Elite Eight
Faith Christian’s George Clark (17) denies an Altamont challenge. On the cover, Lions keeper Caleb McCord makes another save. (Photos by Tony Bedford)
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
If you thought Faith Christian’s defense looked stout Monday night in its 2-0 state soccer playoff win over Altamont, it wasn’t imagined.
The Lions are a team on a mission.
Earlier this season when they were playing a team in Georgia they eventually routed, one of the game’s referees came over to Lions coach Erik McDaniel and actually told him he thought their defense was weak. The Lions have been living to prove him wrong ever since.
To that end, they recorded their first playoff shutout in school history Monday — eight games — and have five this season. They had none a year ago.
“It made me a little angry; I felt a little insulted,” Lions defender Ryan Crosby said. “We beat them 9-1 and didn’t play our starters in the second half.
“But that made us play harder to prove them wrong. Maybe that ref is following what we do.”
The shutout went to junior keeper Caleb McCord, who definitely wasn’t just standing on the back line waiting for the time to pass. He made several impressive saves, including one on a through ball in the closing minutes to keep the shutout alive.
He made an aggressive sliding save in the first half. Early in the second half he ran out on a header and covered up the rebound and later he turned back a threat when two fifth-ranked Altamont forwards converged on him.
“I like to put it on myself, which the team tells me not to do that,” McCord said. “I try to stop as much as I can all the time. I like to make my team and my coach happy and proud.”
The 10th-ranked Lions (11-2-0) got their goals from the expected sources.
Tyler Johnson scored in the first five minutes of the match, completing a long run with a defender on his right shoulder the whole time.
Josiah McDaniel made it 2-0 about 10 minutes before halftime. He juked defenders Patrick O’Neal and William Cook at the top of the penalty area and once he cleared them the keeper had no chance.
It stayed that way to halftime, but McDaniel the coach remained “worried,” because he called the margin “the most dangerous lead in soccer.” It’s a lot like a 3-0 lead in baseball where it’s comfortable but one swing away from being ruined.
He reminded them of that during the break. The Lions had three good chances to score in the second half, but were turned away. Meanwhile, McCord and the defense protected the lead well.
“(The shutout) is a big deal to us,” Crosby said. “We worked hard to make sure their players didn’t get some easy shots. Caleb made some great saves, but we had to make sure they didn’t get any easier shots.”
The Lions will play the winner of tonight’s Fultondale-Collinsville match in the Class 1A-3A Elite Eight Saturday. Fultondale is ranked seventh.
Faith Christian’s Josiah McDaniel (10) splits two Altamont defenders and freezes the keeper before scoring the game’s second goal. (Photo by Tony Bedford)
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