TAUNTON, Mass. - There's good starts and then there's what King Philip did against Taunton to spark a 2-0 road win.
Inside the first minute, KP's Tyler Mann was dragged about 30 yards away from goal, earning a free kick. Mann took the free kick himself, placing it right at the center of the six yard line where Will Weir put it home to make it 1-0 just 72 seconds into the game.
"We've been working hard on trying to attack and defend between the sticks because that's a place where we have been struggling with," King Philip head coach Kip Lewis said. "We actually had a couple more opportunities that we should have finished that we didn't. There was a lot of good stuff but there's a lot of stuff to work on still. We should have a put a couple more goals in and there were a couple of situations we almost broke down."
Taunton had chances in each the 12th and 33rd minutes, but the rest of the first half was dominated by the Warriors.
In a span of 90 seconds, King Philip senior Andrew Allen had a trio of chances but was unable to beat Taunton goalie Ricardo Fonesca. In the 27th minute, senior Jack Staal took a free kick from just outside the area near the touchline and curled a cross in but Allen's header went just over. Just a minute later, Allen got in behind the defense but Fonesca charged out and got to the ball first. Just 10 seconds later, Allen took a free kick from just outside the area trying to catch Fonesca off guard, but the freshman was quick to get to his left and push the ball wide.
But Allen wouldn't be held down any longer, drawing a penalty kick in the 37th minute after cutting back against a defender. The senior took the penalty kick himself, depositing into the upper corner to give the Warriors a 2-0 lead.
"Consistently today we were getting outworked," Taunton head coach Dave Purpura said. "We're a team with a lot of new faces but a lot of upperclassman. It's frustrating because we're working hard in practice and we're starting to put things together in a possession and then we're just flat and getting outworked. Credit to Kip's kids, on the road without a couple of starters they had some kids step up."
The Tigers came out with a more direct approach in the second half and the play was more level throughout the final 40 minutes. In the 44th minute, Taunton's Yuri Valente played senior Cole Rogers in behind the defense, who was able to get a quick shot off but KP goalie Cam Mullins came charging out and was able to get a foot on the shot to push it wide.
Just two minutes later, Fonesca came up with his own big kick save. After a cross from Weir was blocked, the ball fell to Liam Hamilton and he fired a low shot at the near post, but Fonesca had the answer.
King Philip improved to 4-2-2 and will travel to Bishop Feehan for a non-league game on Saturday night. Taunton falls to 1-6 and will play Mansfield next on September 29th.
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Ryan Lanigan can be contacted at [email protected] and followed on Twitter at @R_Lanigan.