During the preseason, Hammond coach Brett Cutler boldly predicted that his offense — a unit that scored just nine total goals in 2015 — would be the strength of this year's squad.
Even Cutler, however, says he couldn't have dreamed up the kind of offensive display the Golden Bears put together in their season opener against Edgewood on Tuesday.
Anderson Mejia-Marroquin scored four goals to set the pace and Hammond used a big finish to the first half to break things open, rolling to a 9-1 victory at home.
"I saw it coming that we would be more dangerous, but I don't think after six years here that I would have ever anticipated (a score of) 9-1," Cutler said. "We've played (Edgewood) before, so I knew the potential was there for a good game, maybe four or five goals. Not like that, though. This program just hasn't put together an effort like that in quite some time and I was extremely pleased with the way we did it.
"A defender scored, a freshman scored … that was just awesome."
The scary thing is, even with the lopsided final score, the Golden Bears could have even put a few more on the board. There were near misses early in the first half, along with a couple opportunities that went just wide early in the second.
Still, it was the kind of offensive fireworks that Hammond boys soccer hasn't seen in quite some time.
"I had a lot chances … eight or nine. And I ended up scoring four," said Mejia-Marroquin. "But I think it was a nice game and we've just got to work now even more."
It was Mejia-Marroquin that kicked off the scoring in the game, finding the back of the net in the opening 15 minutes. But, before the Golden Bears could open things up, Edgewood found the equalizer less than five minutes later.
Cutler says it was an early gut-check moment for his team.
"In previous years, you probably would have seen the team fall apart," he said. "One of those, 'Oh crap, we gave up a goal, here we go again.' But to their credit they didn't do that. They continued to attack, they continued to go forward and it was nice to get some breathing room."
The response included a stretch of four goals in a span of just over five minutes before halftime.
Anthony Perez, a newcomer to the program after moving to Columbia from El Salvador this past year, scored twice to kick-start the run. One of the goals came on a free kick roughly 10 yards outside the box.
Brennan Reamer added a goal and Mejia-Marroquin tallied his second of the evening as well, staking Hammond to a 5-1 lead at intermission.
Things kept rolling to open the second half, as Mejia-Marroquin scored two more times in the opening 10 minutes after the break before the reserves came on. Cutler says he and Perez make quite the imposing offensive duo.
"I think those two will be as dangerous a pair in terms of attacking that you are going to see around here," Cutler said. "Both of them are extremely hard to guard one-on-one … together they are hard to stop even with three or four guys on them."
Hammond added a penalty kick score by freshman Kevin Hernandez and a final goal by senior defender Chidera Ofonedu to create the final margin. Chase Pisone ended up picking up an assist on three of the team's goals and Nels Roth assisted on two others.
The Golden Bears will be back in action this weekend at the Sparrows Point Tournament.
Hammond 9, Edgewood 1
Goals: Ha – Mejia-Marroquin 4, Perez 2, Reamer, Ofonedu, Hernandez; E – N/A.
Assists: Ha – Pisone 3, Roth 2.
Half: 5-1 Ha.
Other score:
River Hill 1, Liberty 0
Sophomore Justin Harris provided the game's lone goal, off an assist from Gianni Gupta, to lift the Hawks to their first win of the season.
Goal: RH – Harris.
Assist: RH – Gupta.
Saves: RH – Sherlock 6.