Red cards hurt Hounds in opener

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Hounds missing two to start, then lose Turnbull on penalty

BY CHUCK VANDENBERG
PCC EDITOR

BURLINGTON - Fort Madison Head Coach Kevin Wellman knew a red card from the substate match with Pella last year would haunt him a bit at the beginning of this season.

But it was another red card at the 18:58 mark of the 1st half that killed the Hounds' momentum in a 4-0 loss to 2021 Class 1A state champion Burlington Notre Dame Monday in Burlington.

With the Nikes on a rare attack in the first 20 minutes of the match, Fort Madison goalkeeper Reiburn Turnbull came out of the net and launched at one of Nike players, drawing a disqualifying red.

The penalty also left Fort Madison a man down the rest of the way.

Prior to that Fort Madison had dominated the field position battle keeping the Nikes at bay, until the penalty.

"For a good 10 or 15 minutes anyway, right?" Wellman said.

Notre Dame's Arya Nowroozi (1) goes up and seals a shot as Fort Madison's Jacob Pothitakis tries to create some interference on the play. Photo by Chuck Vandenberg/PCC

"I thought from where I was sitting and from the bleachers, it wasn't that obvious we were playing a man down. You could see in the last 10 to 15 minutes you could see they were tired, though. They started kicking the ball away and they should have been possessing individually. So it was wearing on them."

Wellman said he was very happy with what the Hounds did.

"It wasn't that we couldn't finish. It's that we didn't get our opportunities out there. Is that because we're missing a man... very likely," he said. "We made a couple key mistakes, but Notre Dame is a fantastic soccer team, and if you give them one mistake, they capitalize."

Fort Madison was playing without Xander Wellman, who, along with Mitchell Pothitakis, was a Class 2A All-Stater last year in the Coaches' Association post-season awards. Wellman got his second red card of the year last year in the Pella substate match and has to sit out for four playing days to start this season, which amounts to six games including Saturday's tournament at Baxter Sports Complex.

Turnbull will have to miss Thursday's game at Fairfield because of Monday's violation.

Fort Madison also played without Nathan Wiggins who is dealing with an ankle injury. Wiggins would have started outside at back. Jacob Pothitakis is also dealing with a quad ailment and was cramping. Wellman said he didn't know when Wiggins would return.

"It limits the options we have. It limited subbing midfielders so they weren't as tired at the end. We can play okay with those injuries, but it handcuffs us," Wellman said.

Fort Madison didn't give up a goal while Turnbull was tending, but Notre Dame took advantage of the change and scored just two minutes later with sophomore Conner Gehling in the net.

Notre Dame's Parker Davis scored on a ball across the front of the net at 16:50 with Gehling sliding to his right. Fort Madison would hold up the Nikes the rest of the way until, with less than a minute remaining, Notre Dame was able to get a steal in the corner and patiently bring the ball to the right as Gabe Zurita sneaked in from the middle and punched one past Gehling to the left for a 2-0 lead with :53 left in the half.

Fort Madison sophomore Leif Boeding battles for a ball with a Nike midfielder Monday afternoon in Burlington. The Hounds fell 4-0 in their season opener to reigning Class 1A champion Notre Dame. Photo by Chuck Vandenberg/PCC

Zurita would score again with 16:11 left in the game when he fired a bullet unassisted from the left side across the front that caught just inside the right pole for a 3-0 lead. Carson Wagner would wrap up the scoring with another Nike goal at 10:30.

Gehling had four saves on the night.

Zurita, Davis, and Wagner all had assists for Notre Dame (2-1).

athletics, bloodhounds, boys soccer, Burlington Notre Dame, fort madison, Hounds, Kevin Wellman, Nikes, Pen City Current, scores, Soccer, sports, varsity, varsity soccer

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