Trinity turns focus to winning section title
When a team plays as many close games as Trinity boys soccer has this year, the law of averages say that one is bound to go in the loss column.
After starting the season unbeaten in 12 games with seven wins and five draws, the Hillers’ had their first defeat, 1-0, to Thomas Jefferson on Tuesday night.
And though it means the Hillers won’t be undefeated going into the playoffs, they still have plenty to play for.
First on that list is winning a section title for the first time since 2020.
The Hillers will accomplish that goal if they win their last two Class 3A Section 2 games starting with one at Albert Gallatin tonight.
The final section game is at Uniontown on Monday.
“We just have to reset,” Hillers coach Alex Nikolopoulos said after Tuesday’s game. “We have one week with two important games and that’s all we need to think about. It’s business as usual starting (Wednesday).”
Trinity can win the section title because math is on its side. The Hillers can finish 7-1-2 and with three points per win and one for a tie, that gives them 23 points. The best Thomas Jefferson can do is 7-2-1, which is 22 points and Ringgold is done with section play at 5-0-5, which is 20 points. Despite not having any section losses, the five ties could relegate the Rams to a third-place finish in the standings.
Nikolopoulos is hopeful that no longer having the weight on an undefeated season on them will allow his team to play free going into the last two section games.
“I told the guys that after the game,” Nikolopoulos said. “We have played so many tight games that could’ve gone against us. We lost our first game and now that monkey is off our back. We don’t have to worry about that undefeated record anymore and we can just go win the section title.”
Trinity has got to this point by playing stout defense. The Hillers have allowed one or fewer goals in all but one game, a 2-2 tie against Wheeling Park. Goalkeeper Joel Young and his backline have six shutouts.
The issue they have had is scoring goals consistently, which is part of the reason they’ve drawn five of their 13 matches.
Trinity has 32 goals this year, but 19 of them came in two games. Fortunately for the Hillers those two games were the next two section opponents. They beat Albert Gallatin 13-0 and Uniontown 6-0.
“Our defense has played lights out every single game honestly,” Nikolopoulos said. “They keep us in every single game and our goalkeeper does too. We’ve come through with some big goals, but not as often as we’ve needed at this point in the season. We have to come through a little more offensively in big games like this one (against Thomas Jefferson).”
Brady Anderson and Blake Pendo are the top goal scorers for the Hillers. Each of them scored once in the last three of the last four games leading into Tuesday’s game with Thomas Jefferson.
One issue Nikolopoulos saw Tuesday was the game getting stretched on Trinity and the Hillers not winning enough battles in the midfield.
To be successful in the postseason, Nikolopoulos said the Hillers have to play through the lines and not settle for long passes over the top.
“(Tuesday) we lost the middle of the field,” Nikolopoulos said. “We didn’t have the possession in the middle of the field. We tried to play their game a little bit with a lot of long balls and that’s just not how we’re built. We have to work our way through the middle third to the attacking third if we want to generate chances.”