Comet kickers fall to Bulldogs, Cardinals

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

CHARLES CITY — When teams take it on the chin, their supporters often implore them to “punch back”.

The Charles City Comets were taking it on the chin when they hosted Hampton-Dumont-CAL in a boys soccer match last Friday at Comet Field.

Though they eventually lost 8-0 and didn’t throw any punches, the Comets did “kick back” in the second half in an earnest effort to avoid the shutout

After seven-and-a-half minutes of scoreless play, HDC senior forward Fernando Mota was able to use some nifty crossover dribble work to infiltrate the penalty area deep inside the Comets’ defensive side of the pitch and scored the first of his two goals on the night.

That got the Bulldogs rolling as sophomore Jesus Flores scored a little more than a minute later with sophomore Christian Zavala assisting, and then Zavala scored the first of his two goals 10 minutes later and soon HDC had a 5-0 lead at halftime.

After only recording a single shot on goal in the first half, Charles City was able to venture more regularly into Bulldog territory in the second half and repeatedly tested HDC senior keeper Jose Aragon-Mendez.

Junior defender Jackson Kowalski, and sophomore midfielders Connor Jenkins and Trevor Haberkorn each recorded shots on goal for the Comets in the second half.

Then Aragon-Mendez made one of the best defensive plays of the night when he leaped high to snare a screaming-hot shot attempt from senior forward Carter Haberkorn. When the shot hit Aragon-Mendez’s gloves, it didn’t make a sound which indicates — like for receivers in “American Rules Football” — that the keeper has soft and sure hands.

The Bulldogs scored three more times in the second half to cap the aforementioned score and improve to 7-1-2 for the season.

With Monday’s 6-1 against Garner-Hayfield-Ventura at Comet Field, the Comet boys are now 1-8-1 going into Tuesday’s road match against Denver, and Thursday’s final home match against Postville, which will also serve at Charles City’s “Senior Night”.

Charles City girls soccer team lost Monday’s subsequent match against the GHV Cardinals 3-0 while falling to 3-5-1 for the season.

The Cardinals (6-4) had goals from Avery Furst, Lila Mendez and Chloe Sokol.

The Comet girls will also travel to Denver for a match on Tuesday, and will also host Postville on Thursday.