The Hampton-Dumont-CAL boys soccer team played Wright County to a 1-1 tie in a North Central Conference match Tuesday night.
The Broncos struck first late in the first half on a penalty kick by Jorge Luis Guzman to take a 1-0 lead into halftime.
The Bulldogs evened the match in the second half in an unusual sequence. A goal kick from Cooper Bird reached the net after deflecting off Broncos defenders. It was unclear whether a Hampton-Dumont-CAL player made contact before the ball crossed the goal line, leaving the scoring play to be ruled either a Bulldog goal or an own goal. Either way, it would knot the match at one.
Coming into the match, the Broncos were averaging just over three goals per game. Hampton-Dumont-CAL Head Coach Danielle Arana says the Bulldogs handled that offensive pressure through strong communication on the back line.
“A lot of communication,” says Arana. “Some of these players are just talking and talking and talking. They were asking for breaks when they needed them, and I think that’s a big thing, right? Like, we don’t have a ton of defenders at this level. We’re still working on that as we lost a lot.”
With the tie, Broncos Head Coach Ethan Krogman says the result provides a chance for growth through reflection.
“And that’s what I said, I think reflection is key here,” Krogman says. “I told the boys, I go, you know, for great teams to really pursue this, I go, you’ll think about this, you’ll watch the film, you’ll watch yourself and you’ll go, you know ‘This is our game plan, I didn’t follow the game plan here.’ And you know, kind of adjust for the future. I go, great teams learn how to grow from reflection. Teams that are doomed to fail will just write it off and go ‘oh ok game over, on to the next one’ so, and think nothing of it. So these boys will think about it for sure.”
The Bulldogs next play Clear Lake, while the Broncos face Iowa Falls-Alden.
