The Marietta Tigers capped off senior night with a 4-0 shutout victory over the Morgan Raiders Thursday evening at the Devola Soccer Complex.
The 2012 East Central Ohio League champion Tigers honored their four seniors before the game and then broke open a 1-0 game with three second half goals to win going away.
Colin Jordan, Holden Weihl, Matt Chalfant, and Bresdon Treadway make up the Tiger senior class of 2012 and the latter two accounted for the first Tiger score of the night.
Just six minutes into the game, Treadway launched a kick from the right side that bounced off of Raider keeper Colin Makatura and off of the chest of Chalfant and into the goal for a 1-0 Marietta lead.
"It was just a great ball in by Bresdon (Treadway) and Chalfant was right where he was supposed to be," said Tiger head coach Todd Morris. "If you put yourself in the right position, good things happen."
The Tigers would spend the rest of the first half knocking on the door for another goal, firing off 15 first half shots on goal, but the orange and black would fail to reach the net the rest of the half.
Fact Box
Marietta 4 Morgan 0
Morgan 0 0 - 0
Marietta 1 3 - 4
First half
Marietta: Matt Chalfant: (Bresdon Treadway assist) 5th minute
Second Half
Marietta: Brent Huck: 44th minute
Marietta: Owen LaBarre: 60th minute
Marietta: Tanner Rake: 74th minute
Shots On Goal: Marietta 31, Morgan 4, Keeper Saves: Morgan (Colin Makatura) 10, Marietta (Eric Pierce) 2, Penalties: Morgan 17, Marietta 9, Corner Kicks: Marietta 8, Morgan 0.
Marietta barely missed a pair of goals late in the first half as shots by both Brent Huck and Jacob Holdren both sailed high and just over the top of the goal.
Makatura came up with seven keeper saves to help keep the Tiger lead at 1-0 heading to intermission.
Morris was not at all pleased with his team's ability to add to their lead in the first half.
"It's been our Achilles heal all year not being able to finish,' said Morris of his Tiger squad. "We are creating opportunities, the end result is just not there."
While the Tigers had many opportunities for goals, the Raiders were not near as fortunate as they managed just two shots on goal in the first half with one of them being a save for Tiger keeper Eric Pierce.
It would take the Tigers only five minutes to increase their lead to two in the second half when Brent Huck drilled a direct kick over Makatura and into the goal for a 2-0 Tiger lead.
Junior Tanner Rake narrowly missed a third Tiger goal with 20 minutes to play when his shot bounced off the top of the goal, but less than a minute later non-starter Owen LaBarre followed up a deflected block with a goal for a 3-0 Marietta lead.
Morgan struggled again in the second half to come up with any kind of a scoring threat as they finished the game with just four shots on goal.
The Tigers rounded out the scoring with just over five minutes to play when Rake connected on yet another long direct kick for the fourth and final Tiger goal of the game.
"The second half we played a lot better," said Morris, "We created a lot of chances and ultimately that's what soccer comes down to, who can score the most goals."
The win improved the Tigers record to 10-2-3 on the season as they face one final tune up this weekend before tournament play begins next week.
The Tigers will travel to the University Of Rio Grande Saturday afternoon to battle Waverly at the neutral site.
Morris would like to see some more consistency from his team as they prepare for tournament play.
"The only thing we've been consistent at this year is being inconsistent," joked the Tiger head coach. "We just need to finish better."
The Tigers will open tournament play against Athens at home next Tuesday.
