PAGE A12, KEIZERTIMES, SEPTEMBER 20, 2019
KEIZERTIMES.COM
McNary earns clean sheet
between two defenders, but
By MATT RAWLINGS
Carella ended up missing
Of the Keizertimes
After losing their previous from point blank range.
Just moments later, Carella
contest in heartbreaking
fashion, the McNary boys got by his defender and set
soccer team put together a up teammate Eli Petilo in the
dominating
performance box, but Petilo had the ball
go off the side of his foot and
against Canby.
The Celtics possessed went wide of the post.
“One of the things we
the ball for the majority of
the game, minimizing any really have been focusing on
is
fi nishing
opportunity
the goal. We
Canby had for
create so many
a score, and
opportunities,
ran away with
but we are
a 3-0 victory
still
missing
on Thursday,
some
easy
Sept. 12.
ones and that
“ W h e n
can
change
you have the
the
game
ball, it’s going
so
quickly,”
to give the
Camarena said.
other
team
But in the
less
chances
19th minute,
to score. That’s
McNary mid-
what we work
Luis
on all the time.
— Sebastain Brunk fi elder
Lopez gave his
We did a good
McNary midfi elder
team all the
job of holding
momentum
our positions,”
with an im-
McNary head
pressive goal.
coach Miguel
A f t e r
Camarena said.
“I’m excited to see the guys dribbling past a defender to
give himself space, Lopez
bounce back to get a win.”
Even though it was a fi red a rocket into the top
convincing victory, Camarena shelf of the goal from 35 yards
noted that he still wants his out to give the Celtics a 1-0
team to improve on taking lead.
“That was a beautiful goal
advantage of more chances
throughout the course of a from Luis. It changed the
game, especially as the Celtics game because it forced them
start to gear up for league to open up more,” Camarena
said.
play.
Canby’s best chances to
McNary outshot Canby
7-1 in the fi rst 18 minutes of get on the board came in
the fi rst half and failed to cash the latter part of the fi rst
in on multiple opportunities half. Francisco Cabello got
loose on the right side and
in the early going.
In the 10th minute, Eddie had a one-on-one chance
Martinez connected with with McNary goalkeeper
Elio Carella with a pass Alejandro Villarreal. Cabello
“Our defense
is amazing
this year. This
whole team
has a lot of
potential.”
McNary ‘s Luis Lopez moves the ball upfi eld in the
Celtics 3-0 victory over Canby on Thursday, Sept. 12.
Lopez scored the fi rst goal of the contest in the victory.
KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings
aimed for the left corner of
the net, but Villarreal was able
to dive and knock the ball
away.
In the fi nal minute of the
fi rst half, there was a mad
scramble for a loose ball near
the McNary net. Even though
the ball hit off the post on
multiple occasions, the ball
was eventually cleared out of
harm’s way and the Celtics
went to the locker room with
the one-goal advantage.
But when the second half
began, the McNary defense
made sure the Cougars never
got close to scoring again
as they turned away every
Canby threat in the fi nal 40
minutes.
“Our defense is amazing
this year. This whole team has
a lot of potential,” McNary
midfi elder Sebastian Brunk
said.
In the 43rd
minute,
Martinez sent a well-placed
through-ball to Petilo, who
sped past the Canby back
line and put one in the back
of the net to put McNary up
2-0.
“Eddie gave me a perfect
ball and I was able to speed
past the guy and kick it
through,” Petilo said.
Petilo would score his
second goal of the game in
the 60th minute when he was
able to get a quality touch
from a beautiful cross from
Edgar Salazar.
McNary returns to the
fi eld on Monday Sept. 23
when they travel to Gresham
to take on the Gophers at 6
p.m.
Celtics drop hard-fought battle with West Salem
KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings
LEFT: Maddox Snider positions herself to receive the ball in McNary’s four-set loss to West Salem on Monday, Sept. 16. RIGHT: Taylor Ebbs prepares to serve.
By MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
The McNary volleyball
team had plenty of chances
to pick up their fi rst win in
Mountain Valley Conference
on Monday Sept. 14. But in
the end, West Salem was the
more gritty team down the
stretch.
After splitting each of the
fi rst two games, McNary
couldn’t hold onto their lead
in the third and fourth sets
as West Salem defeated the
Celtics 25-18, 22-25, 25-22,
26-24.
“Playing under pressure
is a learned skill. We need to
be better at communicating
and making sure we’re tak-
ing care of the ball,” McNary
head coach Crystal DeMello
said. “But that’s the best part
about competing. You have
to learn how to dig in and
have a little grit.”
An ace by Alexis Eldridge
and kills by Zoie Warner and
Chloe Martindale gave Mc-
Nary the upper hand early in
the fi rst set. But West Salem
came back to tie the score
at 9-9, and then won a rally
that took nearly two minutes,
which seemed to take the
wind out of the McNary’s
sails.
The Titans ended up win-
ning six of the next seven
points to take control of the
opening set. A block by Mar-
tindale stopped the bleeding
briefl y, but West Salem was
still able to grab the early 1-0
lead in the match.
The Celtics, however,
were able to regroup in the
following game. Both teams
went back and forth for
much of the second set, but
a big spike from Taylor Ebbs
gave McNary the 21-19 ad-
vantage. The Titans tried to
rally back with a kill from
West Salem’s Emmi Marks,
but Warner and Martindale
put away the fi nal two points
for the Celtics to even up the
match.
“We knew that we just
needed to step up our energy.
Energy is everything for this
team,” Warner said.
DeMello added: “These
girls are well aware of what
they can do. They know what
each other’s strengths are and
they play off them.”
It initially appeared that
McNary was in complete
control of the third set. The
Celtics won eight of the fi rst
10 points and even took a
16-6 lead after a huge stuff
block by Martindale.
However, West Salem was
able to take advantage of
some great serving and sev-
eral unforced errors by Mc-
Nary to go on a 17-4 run,
which put the Titans on top
23-20. West Salem eventually
won the set by three points,
giving them all the momen-
tum.
“The hardest lessons to
learn are when you need to
turn it up. We need to im-
prove on making good deci-
sion when we distribute the
ball,” DeMello said.
Despite missing their
chance to take the lead in
the third set, McNary bat-
tled blow-for-blow with the
Titans in the fourth and fi nal
game. A stuff-block by Mar-
tindale gave her team a 24-23
lead, putting the Celtics one
pint away from forcing a fi fth
set. But West Salem would
not be denied as they rallied
to score the fi nal three points
to take the match victory.
Even with the tough loss,
Warner takes comfort in the
fact that her team gave it
their all.
“There might have been
some unforced errors that we
could have controlled, but at
the end of the day, we played
our hardest and never gave
up on each other,” Warner
said.
McNary travels to South
Salem for their next MVC
contest on Tuesday, Sept. 24
at 6:30 p.m.