HCC scores draw, win in soccer twinbill with Catonsville

HAGERSTOWN — After trailing by a goal twice, the Hagerstown Community College men's soccer team powered back to gain a 2-2 draw with CCBC-Catonsville on Tuesday in the second game of a college soccer doubleheader.

Jeison Caballero scored both of the Hawks' goals, while Franck Bouke and Jaysson Sanchez each had a goal for the Cardinals in what became a very physical game.

"Being a young team, the guys don't actually know the conference yet, so they're trying to learn every game as we go," HCC coach Brandon Rethemeyer said. "(Catonsville) game-planned well for us, so we had to adapt a little bit. All the credit goes to the guys for not giving up."

After a scoreless first half, Bucke scored from close range in the 51st minute to put the Cardinals up 1-0.

Less than 10 minutes later, Caballero responded with a goal inside the box off an assist from Ibrahim Doumbia to tie it up for the Hawks (4-0-2).

In the 81st minute, Catonsville (3-3-1) regained a 2-1 lead when Sanchez tapped in a pass from Henry Mulli.

Caballero wasn't having it, and answered less than a minute later with another goal inside the box to forge the tie.

"He's a little bit of everything," Rethemeyer said of Caballero. "He's very technically gifted, very talented, excellent on (one-on-ones), he gets himself in the right position to give us those opportunities to get goals."

The Cardinals came close to ending it in the second overtime period, but the Hawks defense was able to force a turnover and clear the ball.

"There was so much emotion and energy going on, both teams were pretty exhausted and there was a lot of counterattacking back and forth," Rethemeyer said. "At the end of the day, a point is still a quality result, so (we're) still unbeaten. We'd like to keep that streak alive."

On the women's side, communication and ball control were key in the Hawks' 5-0 victory. Quinn Beck led HCC with two goals and an assist.

"We were very exicted for the first home game. That was an adrenaline rush for us," HCC coach Clifton Williams said. "We worked on keeping possession ... We did a little more talking and it did great for us in the second half."

Beck got on the board first in the ninth minute, scoring from the top right corner of the box to put the Hawks (2-0-1) up 1-0.

HCC didn't score again until the 38th minute, when Emily Fluharty fired a shot through the legs of Cardinals keeper Brittany Johnson for a 2-0 edge heading into halftime.

In the 49th minute, Savannah Holder netted a cross from Madi Knode to increase the Hawks' lead to 3-0.

HCC's fourth goal came when Sydney Hockensmith broke through two defenders and shot unassisted in the 60th minute.

Beck closed out the game with a tap-in off a Holder assist to cap the shutout. She was the fourth Hawk to score in the contest.

"It says a lot about the team because it means any one of these players can score at a given time," Williams said. "We don't have one or two scorers. That makes us vulnerable because people can't just mark one player. We're very fortunate to have that.

"I'm expecting them to get better. We work hard each practice to do that. I want them to practice the way they play because then when they get on the field they have that desire to want to play hard."

Credit to Herald Mail