ROCHESTER — A foul in the box was the difference Tuesday night in Rochester, as an Ella Jarmin penalty kick lifted Black Hills to a 1-0 win over the Warriors.
“It's always good to get a win before you go into league play,” Black Hills coach Ty Johnson said. “It was a good challenge down here.”
Neither team had many scoring chances in the first half, as the Warriors played defense while the Wolves resorted to long balls as the half progressed.
At halftime, Johnson made the switch to a 3-5-2, which allowed them to get wider and generate a few more chances.
“What we were doing wasn’t working,” Johnson said. “They were doing a good job shutting us down.”
That switch paid off in the 53rd minute, when Jarvin drew a foul in the box going for a pass from a wing on the outside.
Jarvin stepped up and calmly placed the penalty kick in the top right corner to give the Wolves the lead.
The Wolves had a few chances to extend the lead, including a shot in the final moments that rang off the crossbar. Johnson acknowledged that he would have liked for them to finish a few of those chances off, but he was also pleased to come away with a victory.
It’ll be a tougher road trip on Thursday, when Black Hills (2-2-1) heads to W.F. West for its league-opener.
“We look at every day and every game to try and get better for the next one,” Johnson said. “We just want to compete with them and everybody else and try to get as high as we can.”
Despite the loss, Rochester coach Matt Ashton was also pleased with what he saw, saying that it didn’t resemble the group he saw in the Warriors’ previous two games.
“A totally different team that came out tonight,” Ashton said. “They were clicking on all cylinders, holding a good Black Hills team down to nothing up until that penalty. I couldn't ask for anything more.”
The Warriors were able to string together a couple of shots, but Ashton thinks that more chances will come as long as they get more aggressive.
“We have to be confident in taking the shot,” Ashton said. “I think we're trying to just make that one last pass … We just need to take the shot when it's there.”
Rochester (1-5-1) will also open league play on Thursday when it heads to Elma.
“We just need to come in there ready to play it at the same pace and play that we did tonight,” Ashton said. “And I think that we should have a good opportunity to take a victory over there.”
