Soccer roundup: Harbor Beach wins Bad Axe Invite

Caseville’s Cody Sharpe BAD AXE - Harbor Beach won three games in route to the Bad Axe Invitational Tournament Championship.

In the first game against Elkton-Pigeon Bay Port, the Pirates scored in the ninth minute on a corner kick when Scott Grekowicz served the ball to the middle of the goal. Alex Delpiere flicked the ball to the far post with his head, and a waiting Seth Guza volleyed the ball in. It wouldn’t be long before Harbor Beach struck again when Grekowicz scored four minutes later with a low shot to the goal from 25 yards out.

In the second game against North Branch, Grekowicz was tripped and pushed while setting up for a shot in the goal box. The referee called the foul and awarded the Pirates a penalty kick. He buried the ball into the corner of the goal for the lone goal of the game.

In the third game, USA took control early. In the tenth minute they scored on a nice pass by Joey Southgate to Peter Gacik. Gacik received the ball inside the penalty box, cut left toward the goal box corner, then passed the ball back to the right side of the net. The Patriots has several more good scoring chances during the half, however Harbor Beach finally responded with just a few minutes left in the half.

Tyler Guza took a direct free kick and sent the ball to the far post for Dustin Mazure. Mazure soared high and drove the ball to the back of the net with a great header.

In the second half, Tyler Guza again set up a goal by driving with the ball all the way to the end line, where he sent a crossing pass to the front of the goal. A USA defender headed it away, but Tyler Mausolf trapped the ball and took a low shot to the right post. The Pirates pushed the lead to 3-1 with another set play. Grekowicz sent a corner kick

to the high far right side of the goal for a running Seth Guza header.

For the day, Christopher Hagedon had 13 saves. Doug Booms and Dillon Volmering had 22 and 14 defensive stops, respectively.

The team had 21 shots on goal with six of them scoring. The Pirates improved their record to 11- 0-1 and will begin conference play Thursday against Brown City.

Bad Axe defeated Cros- Lex 2-1 in a shoot-out, but were defeated in the second round by USA 1-0. The Hatchets knocked off the Lakers 1-0 and were eventually defeated by North Branch in the consolation game 2-0.

Soccer Thursday, September 10

EPBP 0, Marlette 0

Neither team found the back of the net as Lakers and Marlette played to a scoreless tie. Charles Klinesmith got the shutout with six saves in a defensive struggle.

Saginaw A&S Academy 6, Caseville 2

The Eagles lost 6-2 to the visiting Saginaw Arts & Science Academy Thursday evening. The lone scorer for Caseville was Charlie Karafa with one goal per half. SASA led the Eagles 4-1 at the half on scores by James Wallace, Ryan Sarmiento, and Tjark Moldehn & Nicolas Sarmiento. Quinn Kemerer and Nicholas Squanda scored SASA's 2nd half goals. The Eagles are now 0-5.

Harbor Beach 4, Bad Axe 0

The Pirates struck quickly scoring in the seventh minute when Scott Grekowicz dribbled into the middle of the Hatchet defense and then out to the Pirates’ left side drawing four defenders with him.

He then threaded a pass through then to Tyler Guza for a hard shot on goal. The Hatchet keeper blocked the shot and the ball rolled to the far right side.

Seth Guza sprinted in and sent the ball into the back of the goal for their first tally. Harbor Beach extended its lead with another goal in the 26th minute when Guza set the goal up by feeding a square pass to Grekowicz on the left side. Grekowicz dribbled over to just right of the center and suddenly unleashed a 30 yard rocket into the near right side of the net.

In the second half, the game continued in a similar way with Dustin Mazure scoring in the 19th minute when a shot rebounded to him on the right side just inside the goal box for him to finish the job. Tyler Mausolf added the fourth goal at the 27 minute mark as Tyler Guza sent a corner kick to the center of the field right at the edge of the goal box. Mausolf took the shot with the ball hitting a Hatchet defender deflecting it enough that the keeper couldn’t hold on.

Christopher Hagedon notched another shutout giving him five on the year. Dillon Volmering was the star of the defense with nine steals, four clears and a block as he repeatedly thwarted the Hatchet attackers and supported the Pirate midfield. Harbor Beach outshot Bad Axe 16 to 4.The Pirates improved to 8-0-1.

For the Hatchets, Ryan Smukala made 18 saves in goal.