Randolph’s Isaac Pilblad defends the ball from Chautauqua Lake’s Nate Henry during Tuesday’s non-league boys soccer game at Weeden Park in Randolph. PJ photo by Matt Spielman.
RANDOLPH — Cooper Freeman had four goals and two assists and Randolph easily beat nonleague Chattaqua Lake 8-0 in the boys soccer opener on Tuesday at Weeden Park.
The Eagles (0-1-0) hung on through the first 30 minutes of the first half and took a slight 1-0 lead on a goal by Malachi Brown in the 10th minute through Freeman, but the Cardinals (1-0-0) scored three goals in the final 10 minutes of the first half to take a 4-0 lead by halftime.
In the 34th minute, a Chautauqua Lake mistouch led to Randolph winning the ball back and senior Drew Hind passing to Freeman. The junior did the rest, dribbling toward the center of the field under light pressure from the Eagles before firing a vertical shot that beat Chautauqua Lake senior keeper Brendan Klossner. Klossner’s dive wasn’t enough.
Less than two minutes later, the Cardinals were on the offensive again, this time with an assist from Freeman for Hind’s first goal of the season. Freeman caught the attention of the entire Eagles along the goal line, as well as Klossner, before deftly tapping the ball to Hind alone in the six-yard box to make the score 3-0.
Thirty-six seconds before the end of the first half, sophomore Isaac Pilblad passed to third-year Cody Slade, who fired a powerful shot just inside the near post to make the score 4-0.
After halftime, sophomore Aidan Eccles put Hinde in the lead with a goal in the 44th minute.
Freeman completed his hat trick with an unassisted goal in the 52nd minute, when he dribbled alone at Klossner from near midfield and easily slotted the ball into the net without being stopped by a Chautauqua Lake defender.
In the 57th minute, junior Dallas Finch sent a cross into the crowd inside the six-yard box and Slade punched it in.
Freeman sealed the game with his fourth goal of the day in the 59th minute, receiving a pass from Pilblad.
All that remained was whether the Cardinals could keep the score at 0-0.
Junior Delsin Tallchief was rarely tested but helped secure the shutout in the 65th minute. Chautauqua Lake senior Nate Henry took a strong free kick toward the near post that was stopped by a diving Tallchief. Another Eagles player tried to hit the rebound into an open net, but Tallchief again made the save before a third attempt hit the goalpost and was taken out of play.
Randolph, which lost to Maple Grove in last season’s Section VI Class C semifinals, will play Saturday at home against Westfield/Brocton, which also lost to Wilson in last year’s semifinals.
Chautauqua Lake, which failed to get out of the Class C quarterfinals last year, is back in action today in Mayville when it hosts Cassadaga Valley/Falconer, a team that made the Class B1 semifinals last year.
Get the latest news from the day and more delivered to your inbox
