Napoleon, MI. – It was a great weather day for a soccer game as the Napoleon Pirates Boys Soccer team played host to the Jackson Vikings in what was the young program’s first home game ever. The Pirates, in only their second year as a program, had played all their games on the road before this, so it was a good feeling to be able to wear their home green uniforms.
The Vikings started with the ball first and got many great opportunities, and at about the 13:30 mark got a free kick, but the Pirates’ defense came up big to shut it down. The Pirates had many great offensive opportunities, with Alex Grosse getting a good scoring chance with about 7 minutes left in the first half, but it just barely missed going in.
At about the 5:30 mark in the first half, Grosse made some excellent moves and was able to get the ball to Junior midfielder Donovan Keinath, who was able to drive the ball into the back of the net with a solid kick to put the Pirates up 1-0. But the Vikings kept battling, and as the clock basically expired in the first half, it was Junior William Patterson scoring off a corner kick to tie things up at the half.
In the second half, it was a lot of the same, as both teams played solid and got great scoring opportunities. The Pirates played hard in spite of having no players to substitute, as many were injured, but the Vikings were able to make a lot of substitutions as they had a much deeper bench. But the Pirates’ defense played great and kept their heads up, making great plays to keep the score knotted at one.
With time shortening, the Vikings’ Keiarh Smith was able to get a couple of great shots on the Pirates’ goal, which were stopped, but as the goalkeeper was down, he was able to get a blast away, but Keinath saw it coming and was able to jump in front of the ball before it went into the net and drove it away to keep the score tied.
That is how the game finished, in a big 1-1 tie for the Pirates’ first-ever home game, of which hopefully there will be many more to come in the future. Both teams did a great job and played very well. The Pirates, 1-3-3 on the season, will travel to Jackson Christian on Thursday for a 4 o’clock game.
