The 7th-seeded Merrill boys soccer team suffered one of its few lopsided losses of the year when 2nd-seeded Pulaski pulled off a 4-0 win last Tuesday in the regional opener.
Pulaski, the #2 seed, put the #7 Bluejays in an immediate hole when they scored two close shots in the game’s first seven minutes.
“It definitely wasn’t pretty one for us,” MHS senior captain Logan Brunett said. “It started off pretty bad and it didn’t get a lot better. We held them off for the rest of the half, so we tired more there, but then we lost it again.”
In the 60th minute, the Red Raiders scored a corner kick directly in without any header or foot help. A little while later, Pulaski hit a chip shot from the 22-yard circle over the top of the reach of goalie Nathan Beyer.
“It was brutal,” Beyer said. “It was so wet my gloves were soaked. I would dry them off but the next time I touched the ball they were wet again.”
The game ended the season for Merrill. The Jays posted a 1-11 mark in the Valley, with seven losses by a single goal.
“The whole season honestly was pretty good,” Brunett said. “We should have won at least half of those (one-goal) games. We were a slow-starting team. That was our biggest problem.
“Our defense (Beyer backed by Dan Blakeslee, Joe Reissmann, Matt Ladewig, Carl Noland and Dalton Wilding) was pretty solid. Possessing the ball was a strength at times. At times we were amazing and at times we couldn’t do it at all.
“Our offense should have taken a lot more shots, too, when they had the chance. We need to just get the shot off instead of waiting for the perfect shot.”