The expression on Oakland Mills coach Don Shea's face said it all.
In the aftermath of his team's 3-1 victory over Marriotts Ridge on the road Tuesday, the usually stoic Scorpions coach wore a wide smile when asked about the effort his young squad had just put forth.
"I'm extremely pleased for a number of different reasons — (one) that we were ready to go from the whistle and (two) that we were able to hold things together defensively after we got the lead," said Shea, whose team had dropped back-to-back games since a season-opening victory over La Plata. "You have to have that poise playing with the lead and a mentality that once you get yours, you protect it. So for us being as young as we are, today was great to see."
Oakland Mills (2-2) had set the tone right away, scoring in the opening minute on a set piece that saw James Casseus find Vladimir Bruno. Just a couple minutes later, Bruno found Gullit Kingson for another score and just like that it was 2-0.
Marriotts Ridge (0-1, 0-3-1) coach Quinn Khouri, who did see his team settle in after the initial onslaught to start controlling possession for the remainder of the opening half, said it was ultimately an uphill battle the entire way.
"I thought we controlled things for a good portion of today, but when you give up the set piece in the first five minutes of the game and then the same thing happens to start the second half — you put yourself in a hole," Khouri said. "That was the difference today, we were playing catch up the whole time."
Oakland Mills further padded its lead in the opening minute of the second half on an almost carbon copy goal to its first score. Casseus again found Bruno, who headed the ball in traffic just under the cross bar to make it 3-0.
As senior Zach Klempke pointed out afterward, sometimes the best defense is a good offense.
"Honestly, we were just trying not to get scored on. So we were trying to get the ball to the other side of the field, keep it away from our goal," he said. "And then it just kind of happened, we scored on them."
Marriotts Ridge finally broke through with 20:25 left in regulation, as a free kick by Mark Lee glanced off the cross bar and then was headed home by Adit Gupta.
The Mustangs had a few more chances to get closer, but ultimately Oakland Mills' backline was up to the test.
"I feel comfortable with our defense and I feel comfortable with Toby (Baldwin) in goal, so while I don't think we want to sit back and let teams fire away on us, I liked where we were once we got that third goal," Shea said. "I'm still interested to see what we will look like when we put it all together, but we're ahead of where I think a lot of people thought we'd be,"
Marriotts Ridge is still winless, but Khouri says the team is doing its best to stay positive.
"The last 20 minutes of each half, really the control that we had and the chances we created, those are things to build on. Obviously getting the goal was nice too," Khouri said. "We've just got to focus on the strengths and then tighten up a few areas as well."
Oakland Mills 3, Marriotts Ridge 1
Goals: OM – Bruno 2, Kingson; MR — Gupta.
Assists: OM – Casseus 2, Bruno; MR – Lee.
Saves: OM – Baldwin 5; MR – Owusu-Boaitey 4.
Half: 2-0 OM.
Other scores:
Reservoir 2, Mt. Hebron 1
The Gators handed the Vikings their first defeat of the season, with William Schulden providing both goals in the victory. Reservoir goalie Sean Foley also came up huge with seven saves.
Goals: Re - Schulden 2; MH – Rose.
Glenelg 3, River Hill 2
After getting shut out in both its opening tournament games, the Gladiators broke out in a big way against the Hawks on the way to earning the victory in the team's county opener. Ramzy Ahmed, Guy Mobeka and Nathan Curtis all scored for Glenelg (1-0, 1-2). River Hill (0-1, 1-3) got its goals from Danny Fuentes and Gianni Gupta.
Curtis' goal with 10 minutes left in regulation ended up serving as the game winner.
"I think what it came down to tonight was that we were able to put away some chances that we didn't during our tournament," Glenelg coach Joey Osborne said. "We were able to stay a little more composed today and knock it around a little bit more. Once we saw that first one go in, I think it really allowed us to settle in."
Goals: G – Ahmed, Mobeka, Curtis; RH – Fuentes, Gupta.
Assists: G – Shepard, Ahmed.
Saves: G – Rizk 3, Considine 4; RH – Sherlock 4.
Half: 1-1.
Howard 1, Atholton 0
Kevin Whipple scored off an assist from Matt Blum to provide the lone goal in the Lions second straight county win to start the season. Brendan Hartlove made five saves in securing the shutout.
Goal: Ho – Whipple.
Assist: Ho – Blum.
Saves: Ho – Hartlove 5; A – Lara 4.
Centennial 3, Long Reach 1
Wilde Lake 3, Hammond 0