Hawks win courtesy of Offensive Goalie and Swiss Army Knife
The Hiland Hawks soccer team’s season took a strange twist on Saturday, Oct. 8 in the team’s homecoming 3-0 victory over Kidron Central Christian.
With the team’s recent offensive struggles, coach Scott Bodiker implemented the aid of Offensive Goalie and Swiss Army Knife to jump-start the offense.
Offensive Goalie was Dylan Kaufman, whom Bodiker moved out of goal and into the starting line-up at one forward spot. Swiss Army Knife was Thomas Troyer, who last year played forward, this year was moved to defender and on this day, started in an old familiar home... the keeper spot.
Bodiker’s intention was to instill some athleticism up front, which Kaufman definitely brings to the table with his speed and long throw-ins. As for Swiss Army Knife, Bodiker said that Troyer could wind up in goal, on defense, or back on the offensive side of the ball come tournament time. You never know exactly which tool Swiss Army Knife will bring to the table.
“Thomas has performed well at whatever we have asked him to do, so he could end up playing wherever we need him to down the stretch,” said Bodiker. “With our recent struggles to score, we felt that playing Dylan up front might give us a spark, and come tournament time there may be a time when we need his speed and aggressiveness. We felt that today was a good day to try that out.”
As for Troyer, Bodiker said “We’re going to start calling him Swiss Army Knife because he can do so many things,”
It worked well, but while Kaufman offered plenty of energy up front, it was a very familiar face leading the offensive attack.
Senior Luke Burch continued his barrage on the scoring book, assisting on all three goals in the contest, making it 17 straight goals he has either scored or assisted on for the Hawks.
Burch had throw-in assists to Cameron Stutzman and Cameron Miller in the first half, then fired a picture-perfect cross to Caleb Miller to round out the scoring in the game.
As for Offensive Goalie, he said it was fun but tiring playing up front and actually having to do a lot of running rather than just manning the net. Perhaps that is why he was on a knee while Hiland attacked the Central net early in the second half.
“I’m not used to that much running,” said Kaufman after the game. “It was a nice surprise. It was fun but tiring, and I definitely have a deeper appreciation for our forwards.”
Troyer played well in goal, picking up from where he left off as a goalie in junior high. Like riding a bike, the old routine comes back quickly, as it did for Troyer.
“It’s been four years, but it wasn’t too hard to get back into the feel of it,” said Troyer of jumping back into the keeper’s box. “I enjoyed it. Who knows if I’ll get back in there or not. I’ll do whatever coach asks me to do and try to help us win games. We may not need him there now that Grant (Troyer) is finally back, but if they want Dylan up there, I’ll go back here and do my best.”
While the change in approach was the big story, perhaps just as important was the play of the Hiland defense, which again played a nice game in recording their fourth shut-out in the past six games.
Bodiker said the defense has been good all season aside from a few mental mistakes that have led to goals, but he said the “D” has really turned it up lately.
“We’ve cleaned up a few errors and we’ve played really well there recently,” said Bodiker. “We’ve got a lot of good veterans back there with a lot of experience.”
As for the Comets, head coach Gary Lepley said that his 7-7 team continues to gain momentum despite the loss, and has picked up its play compared to the past couple of seasons.
“Obviously things could have gone better today, but this is a good Hiland team that can really play,” said Lepley. “I think we could have defended their throw-ins better, but what a tool they have with those two kids (Burch and Kaufman). They can throw it back post, and that is just not something you work a lot on defending because so few kids can do that.”
After hitting a lull a couple of games ago in which Lepley said the Comets struggled, they then had to face state-power CVCA before Hiland, and the coach was wondering how his team would respond to that kind of challenge. Central lost to CVCA 5-0, but gave up a pair of goals in the game’s final minute, and then lost to Hiland 3-0, but in both games, Lepley felt they had played well against top-quality opponents.
“For the most part we did a pretty good job against both of those teams,” said Lepley of CVCA and Hiland. “We didn’t win but we took steps in the right direction. I really liked the way the kids responded against two quality teams following what was a pair of horrible games at Mansfield Christian and Triway. The effort was there today, and that is what I wanted to see.”
Hiland now stands at 10-4 on the campaign, thanks to a couple of players with new identities.
With the team’s recent offensive struggles, coach Scott Bodiker implemented the aid of Offensive Goalie and Swiss Army Knife to jump-start the offense.
Offensive Goalie was Dylan Kaufman, whom Bodiker moved out of goal and into the starting line-up at one forward spot. Swiss Army Knife was Thomas Troyer, who last year played forward, this year was moved to defender and on this day, started in an old familiar home... the keeper spot.
Bodiker’s intention was to instill some athleticism up front, which Kaufman definitely brings to the table with his speed and long throw-ins. As for Swiss Army Knife, Bodiker said that Troyer could wind up in goal, on defense, or back on the offensive side of the ball come tournament time. You never know exactly which tool Swiss Army Knife will bring to the table.
“Thomas has performed well at whatever we have asked him to do, so he could end up playing wherever we need him to down the stretch,” said Bodiker. “With our recent struggles to score, we felt that playing Dylan up front might give us a spark, and come tournament time there may be a time when we need his speed and aggressiveness. We felt that today was a good day to try that out.”
As for Troyer, Bodiker said “We’re going to start calling him Swiss Army Knife because he can do so many things,”
It worked well, but while Kaufman offered plenty of energy up front, it was a very familiar face leading the offensive attack.
Senior Luke Burch continued his barrage on the scoring book, assisting on all three goals in the contest, making it 17 straight goals he has either scored or assisted on for the Hawks.
Burch had throw-in assists to Cameron Stutzman and Cameron Miller in the first half, then fired a picture-perfect cross to Caleb Miller to round out the scoring in the game.
As for Offensive Goalie, he said it was fun but tiring playing up front and actually having to do a lot of running rather than just manning the net. Perhaps that is why he was on a knee while Hiland attacked the Central net early in the second half.
“I’m not used to that much running,” said Kaufman after the game. “It was a nice surprise. It was fun but tiring, and I definitely have a deeper appreciation for our forwards.”
Troyer played well in goal, picking up from where he left off as a goalie in junior high. Like riding a bike, the old routine comes back quickly, as it did for Troyer.
“It’s been four years, but it wasn’t too hard to get back into the feel of it,” said Troyer of jumping back into the keeper’s box. “I enjoyed it. Who knows if I’ll get back in there or not. I’ll do whatever coach asks me to do and try to help us win games. We may not need him there now that Grant (Troyer) is finally back, but if they want Dylan up there, I’ll go back here and do my best.”
While the change in approach was the big story, perhaps just as important was the play of the Hiland defense, which again played a nice game in recording their fourth shut-out in the past six games.
Bodiker said the defense has been good all season aside from a few mental mistakes that have led to goals, but he said the “D” has really turned it up lately.
“We’ve cleaned up a few errors and we’ve played really well there recently,” said Bodiker. “We’ve got a lot of good veterans back there with a lot of experience.”
As for the Comets, head coach Gary Lepley said that his 7-7 team continues to gain momentum despite the loss, and has picked up its play compared to the past couple of seasons.
“Obviously things could have gone better today, but this is a good Hiland team that can really play,” said Lepley. “I think we could have defended their throw-ins better, but what a tool they have with those two kids (Burch and Kaufman). They can throw it back post, and that is just not something you work a lot on defending because so few kids can do that.”
After hitting a lull a couple of games ago in which Lepley said the Comets struggled, they then had to face state-power CVCA before Hiland, and the coach was wondering how his team would respond to that kind of challenge. Central lost to CVCA 5-0, but gave up a pair of goals in the game’s final minute, and then lost to Hiland 3-0, but in both games, Lepley felt they had played well against top-quality opponents.
“For the most part we did a pretty good job against both of those teams,” said Lepley of CVCA and Hiland. “We didn’t win but we took steps in the right direction. I really liked the way the kids responded against two quality teams following what was a pair of horrible games at Mansfield Christian and Triway. The effort was there today, and that is what I wanted to see.”
Hiland now stands at 10-4 on the campaign, thanks to a couple of players with new identities.
Published: October 8, 2011
