They call him the "Trash Man" and his business is picking up goals. Linton "Trash Man" Mercer tallied twice to lead the Rising Sun boys soccer team to a 4-1 triumph over host Perryville in the rain Thursday night. "Linton is up top because of his speed," Rising Sun coach Ken Ulrich said. "And he is what we call the 'Trash Man'. He cleans up anything up top with his speed and that's what he does. He knows his job and he does it well." Mercer relishes the role. "I definitely do take pride in that because you actually have to be able to read how that ball is going to bounce back," he said. "It's not just luck up there. You actually have to work for that."
Mercer scored the middle two of the Tigers' four goals. Micah Thomas put the visitors ahead by powerful a 30-yard free kick over the outstretched fingertips of the Panthers' goalie with 15:49 left in the first half. Five minutes, 21 seconds later, Linton converted a cross from Jackson Sopa to make it 2-0. Moving down the right side of the field, Sopa sent a cross through the box and Linton was in perfect position to put it away. "That was a really good play by Jackson," said Mercer. "I give a lot of props to him for that because he could've tried to rip one into that goal, but he knew somebody would be there if he crossed it across. So, he was counting on me to be there." Perryville sliced its deficit in half with 5:02 left before the break. Nick Romano curled a free kick into the box and Nick Alberding headed it home. Linton lengthened the Tigers' lead to 3-1 by running on to a long pass from Hunter Russell and slipping a shot into the net. Sopa, returning to action after getting injured in the season opener, capped the scoring with a howitzer from long range. Perryville coach Jilene Orman was disappointed with the officiating but not in her team's performance. "My boys played their hearts out," she said. "I could not have asked for a better game. Unfortunately, some calls didn't go in the way I thought they should have and I don't think the score was indicative of the competition out on the field." Comments are closed.
|
Categories
All
Archives
December 2018
|