RIDGEFIELD — Some extent of emphasis lately for coach Tony Ayala and the Hockinson boys soccer workforce is refining their nook kicks.
Seems, having a participant like 6-foot-3 striker Alonzo Flores to focus on in these conditions goes a great distance towards the Hawks’ set piece success.
Flores registered a hat trick in Hockinson’s 3-1 win over Ridgefield on Thursday, together with the exclamation level late within the second half when the senior soared above the Spudders’ protection and headed in a perfectly-placed Grant Cayton nook kick for a purpose.
Similar to they drew it up.
“I like how our set pieces are sometimes centered around me. It’s sometimes about getting me in the right places,” Flores mentioned. We have now an amazing assistant coach, Josh Nichols. He form of made up these set performs and it labored out properly — three set piece targets.”
Hockinson (6-2, 6-1) had ample time to organize for Thursday’s 2A Larger St. Helens League sport with a two-week layoff from its final contest March 27 adopted by spring break. The workforce devoted loads of time in apply to set items and it paid off in an enormous approach.
“That’s one thing I felt like we could do a better job of as a coaching staff, as players executing, we just haven’t got a lot out of corner kicks,” Ayala mentioned. “We spent a lot of time this week, the coaching staff putting together some really good corner kick plays, we were just working on them and putting in the reps.”
The flip aspect of the Hawks’ lengthy break was what they referred to as a flat opening begin in opposition to the Spudders (2-8, 2-6). Within the seventeenth minute after Flores drilled a free kick from simply exterior the 18-yard penalty space, a defensive lapse resulted in Ridgefield’s Eli Miller scoring a game-tying purpose just some minutes later.
Hockinson’s protection and goalkeeper Jasper Armstrong tightened within the second half. Flores transformed a penalty kick and accomplished the hat trick along with his header on the nook kick within the 71st minute.
“The first 10 minutes were really rusty. You could see, we were just booting it everywhere,” Hockinson junior Ryder Cole-Vogler mentioned. “We weren’t playing our game, but as we got settled in we played our game.”
No matter data, Hockinson and Ridgefield have had a penchant for back-and-forth battles in latest conferences, together with a 2-1 Hockinson win selected a PK shootout in March. The Hawks made a powerful assertion by grabbing a convincing win in regulation.
“All my four years of playing (at Hockinson), Ridgefield has always been tough battle against us,” Flores mentioned. “They’ve always brought out a good team against us (and) challenged us really well. I’m just glad that we handled it well today.”
The consequence additionally allowed Hockinson to maintain tempo with R.A. Lengthy for second place within the 2A GSHL standings behind Columbia River. The Hawks know the way vital a top-two end is for seeding within the 2A District 4 playoffs after they fell to W.F. West one win wanting reaching the 2A state match.
“Our goal is to be in the top in league, be relevant in the district tournament and make it to state,” mentioned Ayala, who led the Hawks to a state look in 2023. “In order to do that, we feel we need to be in the top of this league, and Ridgefield wasn’t going to be an easy task. We put a lot of stock in one game at a time and just really evaluating our play.”
HOCKINSON 3, RIDGEFIELD 1
Hockinson
Targets (assists) — Alonzo Flores (unassisted), Flores (PK), Flores (Grant Cayton). Goalkeeper saves —Jasper Armstrong 14.
Ridgefield
Targets (assists) — Eli Miller (Noah Swenson). Match standout — Eli Miller.
Halftime — 1-1.
