HHC, 2-3 Inf. holds off Bayonets

Championship winning team tops undefeated opponent for the second time this season as it pulls out upset victory

By Matt Smith, Northwest Guardian

Apparently Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division thrives in the underdog role.

Despite a late offensive surge, HHC held off the undefeated Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment Bayonets to lay claim to the men’s soccer championship May 15 at Cowan Stadium.

It was the second time HHC, 2-3 Inf. has downed an undefeated opponent this season.

“We had a rough start at the beginning of the season, but we fought together,” said HHC team captain Rodrigo Moreno. “I guess we have good luck with undefeated teams.”

HHC, 2-3 Inf. blanked previously undefeated 1st Special Forces Group 3-0 earlier this season.

Solid keeper play by HHC, 2-3 Inf.’s Michael Hopper and a goal by Michael Deyegbe gave the HHC team a 1-0 lead at the half.

But it was an amazing free kick from near the sideline by Julian Mejia that wowed the crowd and proved to be the game winner.

The free kick was set up after a Bayonets player was called for a foul, and Mejia was chosen to take the shot. From 30 yards away on the right side of the field, Mejia lifted the ball over everyone’s head, and when it looked as though the ball would soar over the goal it hooked back down towards the net and squeezed past the keeper on the far side to give HHC, 2-3 Inf. a 2-0 advantage.

“When we were practicing I took the same kind of free kick and it was close to going in,” Mejia said, “so I was like ‘let me just try it’ and it went in. It was nice. It was a good goal.”

Finding themselves in danger of being handed their first loss the Bayonets picked up their offensive intensity setting up a series of shots on goal and put Hopper to the test.

Having stopped every shot that came his way, Hopper was faced with a penalty shot against the Bayonets’ Carl Lawler after he was tripped from behind near the goal.

Stopping a penalty shot is essentially a guessing game for a goalie as the shot comes from such a short distance, he must make up his mind which way to dive, if at all, before the kick comes.

Hopper guessed Lawler would go to his left — he went right and brought his team with in one.

The Bayonets continued their onslaught of shots on goal and Lawler just missed wide left on a point blank shot in the game’s waning minutes.

“It was a great game, a very physical game,” Lawler said, “I think we just took it for granted and slacked off in the first half and by the second half it was already too late (for a comeback).”

Despite the loss, Lawler was impressed with what his relatively inexperienced team was able to accomplish. “It was a great season, we fought hard all season,” he said. “This was the first time our company has had a team. We had some players who had never played soccer before.”