Chelsea, MI. – On a beautiful sunny Thursday afternoon, the Chelsea Bulldogs hosted the Charlotte Orioles for the opening round of Soccer Districts. The Bulldogs were coming off a bit of a rough 5-game stretch with only one victory in that time, while Charlotte was coming off a shutout loss to St. Johns.
The bulldogs had possession first and carefully and strategically made good choices in trying to advance the ball downfield. They did not push the issue or look for quick advances that would lead to mistakes, and they did a great job controlling the offensive tempo. Charlotte only once advanced the ball into Chelsea territory in the first 10 minutes of the first half.
The Bulldogs had many opportunities, but many shots went wide, and several hit the upper crossbar, deflecting away. But with about 14 minutes gone by, Owen Dresselhouse had a big shot on goal, but it bounced off the post, and Christian Banos-Weatherholt was in the perfect spot to take advantage and score the first goal for the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs kept playing tough and played a solid defense, not giving the Orioles any opportunities, and the first yellow card of the game was called about the 34-minute mark. A few minutes later, it was Preston Paoletti using his head to knock the ball past Oriole goalkeeper Dylan Hafner for a 2-0 Bulldog lead at halftime.
A minute and 11 seconds into the second half, it was Johnny Pellegrino–Mendes putting a shot on goal that was able to sneak past the Oriole goalkeeper for a big 3-0 Bulldog lead.
With about 7 minutes gone into the second half, things started to get a little ugly with fouls, and Chelsea got a penalty kick, and it was Zachary Levine blasting it by the Oriole goalkeeper to put the Bulldogs up 4-0. Shortly after that, Chelsea brought in Tyler Ward to play goalkeeper with the victory well in hand to give starting goalkeeper Noah Stone a break and not take a chance with injury.
With just less than 17 minutes left to go in the game, it was Alejandro Laurenzi scoring off a corner kick to put the Bulldogs up 5-0. The Orioles would score off a rebound with about 4 minutes left to go to cut off the shutout, but the Bulldogs would go on with many of the backup players getting a chance to play in the huge 5-1 victory.
The Bulldogs’ defense was outstanding throughout the game, as Charlotte didn’t get its first shot on goal until 44 minutes into the game. The score could have been much higher, but the Bulldogs had 4 shots go off the crossbar that were very close in the first half.
Charlotte finishes its season at 9-9 while Southeast Conference White Champions Chelsea (12-6-1) will travel to Mason Tuesday night, the 14th, to take on the Jackson Vikings at 7 P.M. The Vikings are 7-8-4 on the season and were defeated twice by Chelsea in the regular season, but the Bulldogs will not be overconfident and will be ready for any challenge.
