ELMIRA – A close contest between the Horseheads and Elmira boys soccer teams Tuesday afternoon came down to a patch of open space.
Junior midfielder Logan Brimmer created his own breakaway after receiving a pass at midfield from Tyler Prunoske and scored the go-ahead goal with 31 minutes, 11 seconds remaining and the Express held on for a 2-1 Southern Tier Athletic Conference victory at the Thomas J. Hurley Athletic Complex at Elmira High School.
“Definitely competitive,” Elmira head coach Derek Hamilton said of the game. “I don’t think we got the best out of either team, but sometimes you’ve got to win ugly games and today was one of those days. A 2-1 victory is nice, especially considering the way we played.”
Senior midfielder Sean Paul Owen scored for Horseheads with 26 seconds left in the first half after Prunoske’s goal on a blast to the upper part of the net gave Elmira the first lead of the game with 21:18 to go in the half.
Elmira improved to 4-2-1 and Horseheads dropped to 2-5, with all five losses by one goal. Both teams had 12 shots on goal.
“I’m happy with my guys,” Horseheads head coach Mark Mucci said. “I thought overall we played a good game. We moved the ball well at times. We generated a ton of of chances, we just couldn’t find the back of the net. … The second half I thought we played a lot better after we made a few adjustments at halftime.”
The Blue Raiders thought they held a 1-0 lead when Alejandro Nunez put the ball in off a scramble just over 10 minutes in, but the officials talked and ruled that Elmira goalie Owen Mason held the ball long enough before losing control that he should have been given a goal kick.
Owen’s goal off a crossing pass just before halftime got the Raiders into the scoring column permanently.
“I think we got a little complacent and we ended the half before the actual scoreboard ended the half,” Hamilton said. “That happens with high school kids.”
Brimmer’s go-ahead goal came when he outraced a Horseheads defender for possession and broke free after taking a through pass from Prunoske, a senior midfielder. Brimmer put his shot cleanly into the back of the net past Raiders goalie Nick Pariso, who had 10 saves. Owen Mason made 11 saves for Elmira.
“We didn’t play our best, but we won tackles in the second half and that led to our goal to win the game,” Brimmer said.
Said Hamilton: “That’s Logan Brimmer’s fifth goal of the season in his first varsity year. That’s nice to see out of him. He’s scoring big goals for us right now.”
Like Mucci, Hamilton liked his team’s play better in the second half.
“The first half I thought we played on our heels a bit,” he said. “We were always kind of backtracking on the ball. The second half I thought we kind of took the offensive and started playing balls directly on the feet and a little more direct. It worked out for us. We had a beautiful second goal.”
Elmira Scoring - Prunoske (1-1), Brimmer (1-0), Halperin (0-1)
Horseheads Scoring - Owen (1-0), Nunez (0-1)
Shots/Corners - Elmira (13-4), Horseheads (13-0)
Saves - Elmira (Mason-11), Horseheads (Pariso-10)
