Conn gets hat trick, Hawks roll 7-1 over Tusky Valley in season opener

  • By Dave Mast
  • August 24, 2010
  • 277
                        
Coming into the 2010 high school soccer season, the Hiland Hawks have set their bar extremely high, with a goal of finally breaking through the Regional barrier that has stopped them over the past decade and into the State tournament. While head coach Scott Bodiker knows his team will have to ultimately play better than it did in its season-opening 7-1 victory over Tusky Valley, he was pleased to finally get the season under way and also thought his team played off some of the early season rust which can take place in the beginning. “Did we play great? No,” said Bodiker. “But it was a good place for us to start. It gets us moving in the right direction, and we were able to play everyone, and get everyone plenty of minutes in the process.” With a number of players battling injuries, and two more getting no time in because they were playing on the World Series baseball team and had not been to practice yet, the lopsided win provided a good chance to break in to the season slowly. While the action began in a somewhat timid manner, taking the Hawks more than 30 minutes to get on the scoreboard, once Luke Burch drove home the game’s first goal, it began an avalanche of goals. “Even in the first part of the game where we weren’t scoring, we were getting good opportunities and playing well, but we just weren’t converting them into scores,” said Bodiker. “As is often the case, when you pound on the door a while, things usually happen, and once we got that first goal, it kind of broke their spirit and that emotional bubble kind of burst.” One guy who had no problem finding the net from that point on was Braden Conn, who used his elite speed to get around the corner on Trojan defenders and beat them to the net. After Burch’s goal unlocked the vault to the goal, Noah Boyd and Conn both scored in the game’s 35th minute, and Conn connected again in the 38th minute. Leading 4-0 at the half, Boyd scored again in the 44th minute, Cody Miller found the back of the net in the 47th minute and after Tusky Valley’s Olavo Pomarico scored for Tusky Valley’s goal to make it 6-1 in the 58th minute, Burch connected on a beautiful corner kick that Conn drove home with a header to make it 7-1. “Braden is going to be a big part of this team’s offense, and it’s great to see him get off to a solid start,” said Bodiker. Beating a program like Tusky Valley’s is something that Bodiker and his players know should happen. They know too, that they must continue to improve each game in order to accomplish everything that they have set their sights on this season. “We took care of business tonight,” said Bodiker. “There’s plenty of room to improve, but overall I’m pleased with our effort. It’s a good, solid start for us.”


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