FAIRBORN — In their first match against a Greater Western Ohio Conference, South Division opponent this season, the Fairborn Skyhawks battled the visiting Miamisburg Vikings in a physical game. The match ended in a 1-1 tie, Tuesday at Fairborn High School.
Fairborn coach Greg Dierker said his team went into the match with a lot of confidence, but didn’t execute right away.
“It’s a team that we’re pretty equal with, but we really thought that we would have a slight edge. The boys played physical but we didn’t really play as smart as we needed to.”
Fairborn (3-2-3, 0-0-1 GWOC South) looked sluggish in the first half. Miamisburg (2-4-2, 0-0-1 GWOC South) was the aggressor early and scored first. Evan Teaney had a good shot in front of the Fairborn goal that he kicked passed the Skyhawk keeper, Andy Gilbert.
“We didn’t really give them many chances. They had one really good look and they put it away. But we didn’t have many chances either,” said Dierker.
Unofficially Miamisburg finished with 11 shots and Fairborn had nine. Both teams did a good job of contesting looks and making shots more difficult.
Being a league game, both teams were a little chippy. Players were bumping into one another and the refs were letting them play. Dierker said it didn’t affect the outcome.
“Our boys don’t mind physical. They probably bump around more than they need to. They expected to win this game but played a poor first half. The second half was better.”
Miamisburg coach Jerry Randolph said playing a league opponent inspired his young squad.
“I think it’s some of the best we’ve played this season so far. We’ve had a rough year. We’re really young and I think the league match inspired us and we played very well tonight against a very good Fairborn team.”
Fairborn came out in the second half playing with more aggression. Junior Tanner Robinson scored a long equalizer goal just 45 seconds into the second half to tie the game 1-1.
“It was a long shot probably a good 30 yards out. He hit a good rope and the ball was a little slippery there and got through the goalie,” said Dierker.
Both teams had scoring opportunities in the remainder of the game, but neither could capitalize.
After coming off a strong performance in a 1-0 loss to Beavercreek, Dierker said he hopes the game against Miamisburg will teach Fairborn to stay focused.
“We’ll be down because that was a GWOC South game and we expected to win. I think it’s going to fire the guys up to play their hardest and smartest. We were sloppy.”
Fairborn is back in action against GWOC Central opponent Springfield, 7 p.m. Thursday at Fairborn High School.
