Trinity’s youngest player didn’t need long at all – just seconds, really – to atone for missing a fabulous scoring opportunity Saturday night.
The lone freshman on the Shamrocks’ 28-player boys’ varsity soccer roster, Jack Fischer scored 11:49 into the game to help jumpstart Trinity to a 4-1 win over the resurgent North Oldham Mustangs in the championship game of the nine-team Bulldog Cup at Male.
“Jack’s a fantastic player and a great kid who comes from a great family, and I knew that he was going to get one tonight,” said Trinity coach Dale Helfrich, whose program won its second Bulldog Cup title in three years after upending Collins in 2014. “He’s been having some time adjusting to the varsity level and to that speed, but as a freshman, he’s done terrific. And it was great to see him get his goal tonight because he’s been chasing that one for a while.”
Just 39 seconds before his third goal this year, Fischer missed high on a shot in the 18-yard box. Fischer quickly regrouped and the next time he touched the ball – off an assist from senior Michael Kerr – he tucked a shot away from nearly point-blank range.
“After that, I wanted to repay what I did before,” said Fischer, who capped his night with an assist to senior Chidum Okeke for the game’s final goal. “Once my team won me the ball and they passed it to me, I had a 1-v-2 and I just touched it around the defender and attacked and placed it into the right corner.”
Trinity (10-0-3) tripled its lead in a three-minute stretch spanning the halftime break.
In the final minute of the first half, senior Connor Clines was unmarked in the box when he headed in a right-side cross from senior Max Higgins to ensure the Shamrocks’ sixth multi-goal game in a row and 11th in 13 matches. A mere 99 seconds after intermission, senior Nicholas Ash made it 3-0 off an assist from junior Xander Shelby.
Trinity’s bid at its eighth shutout of the year came to a halt in the 45th minute as North Oldham junior Dylan Smith scored off a pass from junior Greg Kinnison for North Oldham (6-6-1).
“We fought and we tried to hang around,” North Oldham coach Joshua Poole said, “but some mistakes on our end that we’ll clean up and it will be a better game next time.”
With 26:57 left in the match, Okeke stretched the Shamrocks’ lead back to three goals off Fischer’s pass. Okeke became the seventh Shamrock to earn a point in the match.
“I’m proud of all our guys. We’ve got a deep roster, but that wasn’t the case early in the season,” Helfrich said. “Guys are coming in hungry and they’re coming in committed to the work and working for the team. It’s nice to see us start to hit another stride as we get closer to October.”