Hounds knot Williamsburg in opener

TOUGH GAME

The guys came out and they kept playing. But at the end of the day, you have to remember that it’s just a game. It was pretty scary what happened.”

Kevin Wellman, FM Head Coach

FORT MADISON - The sound of the collision was enough to stun anyone standing close to play.
It was one of those 50/50 balls common in a soccer match, and as Fort Madison’s Tate Green and Williamsburg’s John Eichorn converged on the ball with just 10 minutes gone in Tuesday’s match at the Baxter Sports Complex, the two collided with such force it didn’t take long before Fort Madison coach Kevin Wellman was on his phone calling for an ambulance to get help for his player.
Green suffered a head injury and was taken to Southeast Iowa Regional Medical Center-Fort Madison, where his condition was unknown after the Bloodhounds completed a 2-2 tie with the Raiders in the season opener for both teams.
Play was stopped after Green fell to the ground, and he was immediately tended to by Fort Madison’s training staff and the coaches, who were close by when the play happened.
“He got clobbered,” Wellman said of Green. “It was a pretty serious injury. When I got to him he already had a bad bruise over his eye and he was bleeding from his nose. It was scary.”
Eichorn, who wasn’t injured on the play, received a yellow card for the hit.
“The player who ran into him wanted to come over and tell him he was sorry,” Wellman said. “I talked to him for a minute, and told him I would pass along the sentiment.”
The injury added to the gloomy, miserable afternoon, with a strong wind blowing from the southeast and rain falling on and off throughout the match.
“It was just a tough game, with everything involved,” Wellman said. “The big injury is always … you never know how people are gonna respond to that. It's cold, it's windy, it's our first game. It was just not an ideal night for both sides.”
The score, Wellman said, was indicative of the day.
“Good enough not to lose, not good enough to win,” he said. “If I was watching the game, and I didn’t know what the score was, I wouldn’t have been surprised when I found out. There were blocks of time where we had possession and did a lot of good things, and there were moments when we had a couple of mistakes and let them get the two goals they got.”
Fort Madison had taken a 1-0 lead on Henry Graham’s goal just three minutes before Green was injured.
It stayed that way until Williamsburg’s Mason Eggleston scored with 2:18 to play, but Fort Madison’s Jacob Shottenkirk answered with a goal less than a minute later to give the Bloodhounds a 2-1 halftime lead.
The Raiders had a chance to tie the match early in the second half, but Braysen Doehrmann’s shot hit the left post. Williamsburg, though, kept attacking, and tied the game on Eggleston’s second goal with 28:24 remaining.
Fort Madison had a chance to win the game with 16 seconds left after Graham was taken down by Williamsburg’s Connor Westcott, who received a yellow card. Graham’s free kick, though, sailed over the net.
The Bloodhounds’ thoughts after the match, though, were about Green.
“The guys came out and they kept playing,” Wellman said. “But at the end of the day, you have to remember that it’s just a game. It was pretty scary what happened.”