By Yasir Khaleq, Staff Writer
The Barons took the wind out of the sails of Newport Harbor with an emphatic 5-0 victory on Friday night at Davidson Field in Newport, with captain Ryan Erickson (’16) scoring three goals.
Fountain Valley got the scoring started early after a few minutes of adjustment, with defender Ali Shah (’18) scoring five minutes into the game after a long throw in caused a hectic scramble in front of the goal. This would be a sign of things to come, as the Barons scored four of their five goals off corners or long throw ins.
From there, the Barons took charge, not allowing the Sailors much time to hold on to the ball and creating many chances to score themselves. The Barons eventually scored another goal with ten minutes left in the half, this time with Erickson scoring the first of his goals of the night with a header.
“The first half was tough, I think we had to adjust to the field, its a lot smaller. We scored both of our goals off of long throws. We had to find a way to score in the run of play” said Assistant Varsity Coach Ryan Brown. “I think we made a great adjustment in doing that, I felt like we were a lot more organized, we were playing a lot more simple”.
The second half started off even quicker, with Erickson grabbing his second goal of the night. An unsuccessful corner found its way back to David Volkert (’16) who crossed into the centre of the penalty area. Erickson took full advantage of this opportunity and the ball found its way into the back of the net to seal the victory for the Barons.
Four minutes later, a pass from the midfield allowed Volkert to get 1 on 1 with the goalkeeper, and Volkert made no mistake, slotting the ball into the corner of the net to put FVHS up 4-0. Volkert then assisted Erickson’s third and final goal of the night when his corner kick was turned home by Erickson with 28 minutes left in the game.
It was a strange, but welcoming sight to see a defender score three goals like Erickson did. David Volkert continued his fantastic run of form, and Ali Shah continued to impress in his debut varsity season as a sophomore.
“I think everything went right today. Offense went pretty well, defense didn’t give up any goals which is obviously a good thing. All around it was a good day for everyone” said Erickson.
The Barons are now tied for second in the Sunset league with Edison, and are one win behind first placed Los Alamitos.
