By RYAN WALKER
Norwell’s boys’ soccer team evened out their record at 1-1-1 with a 4-2 victory over Woodlan Saturday morning. It was the third game in the opening week, and they finally saw the scoring burst they’d been waiting for.
At first, it looked like Norwell had the advantage, taking multiple shots at the net. But in the 15th minute, Woodlan’s freshman forward Jeremiah Troyer took a deep kick passed the goalkeeper to go up 1-0. Keeping the attack, the Knights would break through with two goals, one from Kyler Morris and the other from Austin De Leon. Norwell would have the lead going into the halfway mark.
As the second half began, the same strategy to take chances at the net proved to work by another goal from De Leon. Woodland’s Sam Handerson then made things interesting to make it 3-2 with 15 minutes left, but De Leon followed his third goal less than two minutes later to ice the game 4-2.
Coach Jamie Feldheiser was pleased with his team offensively against a quality opponent.
“It’s nice to get a win to get the season started,” he said. “I mean, Woodlan’s got a lot of athleticism and some key pieces, but I thought for the first time this year we were linking up passes between our midfielders, and our forwards made great runs off that, which creates a lot of chances.”
Last season, Norwell was without Austin De Leon, their leading goal-scorer in 2020 as a freshman. Their goals per game nearly dropped by one from 2020 to 2021, and total wins dropped from 10 to four in that span. With an offensive threat off the field for last season, Feldheiser needed to re-think the base of the program and improve for his return.
“Last year was interesting with him missing all but the last two games of the season with his knee injury,” Feldheiser said. We just kind of had to reinvent ourselves, and that’s why we have our foundation of defense and preach that first and foremost. But he does create for us, and he’s able to coach guys into making the proper runs and kind of help them out.”
The junior has scored four out of the five goals for the team this season, which has helped spark the team offensively, outshooting Woodlan 18-8 on goal. The one-player difference will make the rest of the season interesting for the Knights.
De Leon and the Knights will host Manchester (2-1) at 7 p.m. Monday, Aug 22
sports@news-banner.com
