Delaney: Kraynak, not Hamilton, outperforms Poland
Poland boys soccer coach Greg Haver was subdued Friday evening.
Understandable. Haver's Tornadoes just lost their fourth-consecutive match and second-straight Class D final to rival Hamilton.
No shame there, though. Hamilton is the defending Class D state champion and its four wins over Poland were all by one goal. The first three, dating back to last year's sectional final, were 1-0 games. On Friday, Hamilton came from behind twice to win 3-2 on a cold evening at Waterville High School.
Haver, who won the 2005-2007 Class D titles at Poland, said his team was outplayed by the fourth-seeded and state unranked Emerald Knights.
I do not think Poland was outplayed the entire game. Hamilton definitely had the upper hand - or foot, preferably - in the first 22 minutes of the match. Then Poland scored a beautiful transition goal in the 19th minute and the quality of Poland's play improved.
The Tornadoes did not have an answer for Hamilton midfielder-forward Dan Kraynak. The junior scored two long-range goals on well-struck, hard shots both from at least 25 yards out. Poland either did not account for Kraynak taking those shots or they failed to defend properly.
"I can't think of another kid who shoots from that distance and puts them on goal," Haver said. "He's a great player. We tried to get out on him. He's a great enough player that we get out on him and he gets around you."
Understandable. Haver's Tornadoes just lost their fourth-consecutive match and second-straight Class D final to rival Hamilton.
No shame there, though. Hamilton is the defending Class D state champion and its four wins over Poland were all by one goal. The first three, dating back to last year's sectional final, were 1-0 games. On Friday, Hamilton came from behind twice to win 3-2 on a cold evening at Waterville High School.
Haver, who won the 2005-2007 Class D titles at Poland, said his team was outplayed by the fourth-seeded and state unranked Emerald Knights.
I do not think Poland was outplayed the entire game. Hamilton definitely had the upper hand - or foot, preferably - in the first 22 minutes of the match. Then Poland scored a beautiful transition goal in the 19th minute and the quality of Poland's play improved.
The Tornadoes did not have an answer for Hamilton midfielder-forward Dan Kraynak. The junior scored two long-range goals on well-struck, hard shots both from at least 25 yards out. Poland either did not account for Kraynak taking those shots or they failed to defend properly.
"I can't think of another kid who shoots from that distance and puts them on goal," Haver said. "He's a great player. We tried to get out on him. He's a great enough player that we get out on him and he gets around you."
posted by Anne Delaney at
8:58 PM
1 Comments:
I must say that I disagree with your title. As a soccer player I have learned that soccer is very much a team sport. This is not to say that other sports are not team sports, it is just that soccer seems to be more about team than other sports. While it is true that Daniel Kraynak has been utterly dominating the opposition during this postseason, it has been Hamilton that wins the games together, not Kraynak alone. Throughout the season Hamilton has proven that it has several other players who can come up with big plays in big situations, Drew Thompson and Dan Meeks scored the goals in Hamilton's two previous wins over Poland, Mikey Jones scored the lone goal in Hamilton's regular season victory over the Section III Class C champions Cooperstown, and Thompson scored the only goal in Hamilton's win over Cincinnatus. As a side note, both Poland and Cincinnatus were seeded higher than Hamilton for the sectional playoffs, and Cooperstown is (as I already stated) in a higher class. Everyone had a part in Hamiltion's Section III championship. And while it is easy to see in the box scores that Kraynak is the team's MVP, there are so many things, both during the sectional game and outside the game. It seems quite obvious that Hamilton's nexzt opponent, Margaretville, will have Kraynak covered, but due to the players I have just mentioned, Hamilton won Section III and has a good chance against Margaretville. During the Poland game previously mentioned players like Meeks, Jones, and Thompson drew defenders away from Kraynak so that he was not as heavily guarded. As for outside the game, there are the players that do not get recognition, yet this Section III title would not have been possible without. These players are the ones whos names are not announced during the starting lineups, but rather do their part every day in showing up to practice playing their hearts out and improving Hamilton's starting team. Even though there is no statistic for what these kids do, what they do is indespensible. I do not want to jump to conclusions, but it seems that you just read the box score, and did not actually attend the game, and this is okay with me, but sometimes you need to read between the lines. Truly yours, Lucas Rhyde.
Post a Comment
<< Home