HCC needs only one goal to top Prince George's
HAGERSTOWN — Hagerstown Community College continued its strong early showing in Maryland JuCo Conference play on Wednesday afternoon with a 1-0 victory over Prince George’s Community College.
The Hawks (4-2, 2-0) had trouble controlling the ball in scoring situations, limiting their chance to put the game out of the reach of the Owls.
“We started the game out well. Our gameplan was to possess the ball in the midfield and we did that,” HCC coach Brian Eichelberger said.
“Towards the middle of the first half, I felt we got tired, started making mistakes and turned the ball over too much.”
Luckily for the Hawks, none of their mistakes cost them a goal, allowing them to take a scoreless tie into the half.
Prince George’s had its opportunities to make the Hawks pay for their offensive woes, but HCC netminder Cristian Mejia slammed the door on the Owls with 14 saves.
“(Prince George’s) was really taking it to us the last part of the second half, but I thought the defense played really well and our keeper really kept us in the game,” Eichelberger said.
HCC has only five sophomores on its roster, but those upperclassmen steadied the Hawks.
Jonah Smith gave HCC the lead in the 57th minute off an assist from fellow sophomore Dillon Eyler to give the Hawks the one-goal lead.
Though the season is only six games in for the Hawks, they may have found their good luck charm: An alternate jersey.
After introducing several uniform combinations prior to the start of last season, Hagerstown unveiled a new one for this one — a highlighter-colored jersey that rivals the one of college football’s West Coast fashion plates, the Oregon Ducks.
It was the first time Hagerstown wore the new outfit at home and the second time this season. Both resulted in wins.
“We’re definitely going to wear them again, but I was a little wary about bringing (the jerseys) out this early because they’re bright. You have to play well when you wear something like that and we did,” said Eichelberger.
Eichelberger was non-committal about what uniform HCC would wear Friday when it tries for a fourth consecutive win at Montgomery-Rockville.
Brett Nieves is a sports correspondent for The Herald-Mail. He can be reached via email at brett.nieves@herald-mail.com.
