Boys soccer: Ottawa wins Serena Tournament, besting Huskers 1-0 in title match

SERENA – The Ottawa boys soccer team opened its season on a solid note Saturday at the Serena four-team tournament.

The Pirates (3-0) opened with a 9-0 win over Sandwich, then topped Indian Creek 4-1, and finally posted a 1-0 victory over the host Huskers in the final match of the day to finish 3-0 and walk away with the tournament championship.

In what proved to be the title match against Serena, Ottawa’s Alexio Fernandez rebound goal of his initial shot proved to be the lone goal of the match, which like all matches on the day, was played with 25-minute halves.

“We always expect a competitive match with Serena, and today was no different,” Ottawa coach Kevin Olesen said. “They play an aggressive style that is going to battle you for every ball no matter where it’s at on the field. We were able to create a good chance there in the first half and Alexio did a great job of following up his first shot.”

“We had great effort in all three matches, and the things we have been stressing in the offseason and practice, we saw on the field today.”

—  Kevin Olesen, Ottawa boys soccer coach

Against the Indians, Luis Bedolla recorded a hat trick, while Michael Bedolla (assist), Grayson Skinner (two assists) and Jorge Lopez each scored twice. The Pirates also had assists from Evan Snook, Brian Diederich, Rey Garcia, Yousef Alzamzami and Collin Lyons.

Skinner then had two goals against the Timberwolves, with Snook (two assists) and Lopez (assist) also finding the back of the net. Keeper Brady Wendt ended the day making 10 total saves with a pair of shutouts.

“With our scheduled first two matches this week postponed, I think we were all getting very anxious to get on the field and see what we can do,” Olesen said. “We had great effort in all three matches, and the things we have been stressing in the offseason and practice, we saw on the field today. This was a good start to the season, and one we hopefully can continue to build on moving forward.”

Serena (2-1) struggled to create many good scoring chances in the loss to Ottawa, while keeper Carson Baker made eight saves.

“The guys played hard, so no fault in the effort,” Serena co-coach Jeremy Foreman said. “Ottawa just had a fortunate bounce there and took advantage of it. We had a few opportunities to get the match back even but couldn’t capitalize on them. We also just didn’t match their physicality. Credit Ottawa, they passed the ball extremely well, have a lot of very good soccer players in their program and are well-coached.”

The hosts opened the day grabbing a 2-0 lead in the opening two minutes against Indian Creek and hanging on for a 3-2 triumph. Tanner Faivre scored twice off assists from Beau Raikes, while Richie Armour scored what proved to be the game-winning goal with five minutes to play off an assist from Baker, who finished with eight saves.

Serena also defeated Sandwich 8-0 with Faivre (two assists) collecting the hat trick, Raikes (assist) and Eduardo Moncada each scoring twice and Armour adding a tally. Finn Rosengren had a pair of assists, with Matt Farrell and Damien Gonzalez also adding assist. Baker was credited with three saves.

“Any time you can walk away after any tournament with a winning record, it’s a good day,’ Foreman said. “Would we have liked to win this, sure, but we did a lot of good things today that we can build off of. I thought our defense was really solid in all three matches and that was a great thing for us to see to start the season.”

Sandwich (0-4) dropped their final match of the tournament 5-3 to Indian Creek. Kayden Page posted two goals and an assist for the Indians, while Alex White scored the third goal.

Sandwich coach Ian Schielein cited the solid play of sophomore defender Luis Quinones, who played every minute in the trio of matches. Keeper John Carlson ended the three matches with 22 total saves.