One goal was all it took for Reservoir Thursday evening against Centennial.
Colin Bonner took a feed from teammate Peter Park and finished into the left corner of the goal 12 minutes in and the Gators' defense did the rest, as Reservoir held on down the stretch for a 1-0 victory on the road.
Against a Centennial team that was coming off a double-overtime win on Tuesday over Wilde Lake, last year's county champions, that early lead for the Gators made all the difference.
"Especially on this field, where we haven't had a lot of luck, getting one early and getting us settled in was pivotal," Reservoir coach Paul Linkins said. "I told them it was going to take them pressing up, pressuring, from the very beginning. We had to make something happen."
Aside from giving Reservoir the lead, Bonner's score also forced Centennial to make some adjustments and push forward a bit more as the game wore on.
"We've been getting off to some good starts, so that was a little different for us to fall behind so early," Centennial coach Jim Zehe said. "On the whole, I thought the defense played very well. Just that one little error, one little play, cost us."
Centennial had its chances to pull even, especially late in the second half.
Andrey Pavlov had a breakaway with 12 minutes left that was thwarted by a diving save by Reservoir goalie Ryan Dooley. Later, with eight minutes showing on the clock, Dooley again made a diving stop of a Max Yarosh header.
Dooley finished with nine saves in preserving the shutout.
"Ryan came up very big and it's a testament to his work ethic," Linkins said. "He's been working so hard all summer and he's now working with coach (Adam) Leader every day. It got tense towards the end, they had the run of play most of the second half, but every time we needed a stop he made it."
Centennial's defense, led by goalie Jackson Bicknell (seven saves), kept things within striking distance. Ultimately, though, the Eagles simply couldn't get the equalizer.
"We're 2-2 and when we've scored, we've won," Zehe said. "Our defense is going to keep us in games, our two losses right now are 1-0, but we can't keep asking the defense to play flawlessly. The good news is we're getting chances, now we just have to start finishing them."
Reservoir 1, Centennial 0
Goal: Re - Bonner.
Assist: Re - P. Park.
Saves: Re - Dooley 9; C - Bicknell 7.
Half: 1-0 Re.
Other scores:
River Hill 5, Long Reach 0
Goals: RH - Turney 2, Williams, McCleaf, Szostak.
Assists: RH - Noonan, Turney, Marsh-Armstrong.
Saves: RH - Voyton 1; LR - Slahetka 8.
Half: 2-0 RH.
Atholton 3, Howard 1
Goals: A - Chan 2, Foster; Ho - Phillips.
Assists: A - Bellamy 2.
Saves: A - Forbes 4; Ho - Spalding 7.