Charlestown Pirate Soccer 7 – Austin 0

1st Half:  Trent Wight (36.41 PK); Trent Wight (35.48 PK); Michael Navetta (33.32); Colin Martin (8.55); Trent Wight (6:17 PK).

2nd Half:  Isai Galvan (25.20); Anthony Carey (18.50); Anthony Carey (3.30) Assist by Alfredo Arredondo.

The Charlestown Pirates hosted the Austin Eagles on Tuesday evening and quickly asserted control of the game getting into the opposing penalty box twice within the first five minutes of the game and drawing contact to earn penalty kicks which were easily converted by Junior attacking midfielder Trent Wight who would go on to earn a rare hat trick of penalty kicks in the game. By the time Senior team captain and attacking midfielder Michael Navetta placed his goal into the net in the 33rd minute, the game was all but over. Freshman attacking midfielder Demetrio Ortuno entered the game and quickly soon helped Senior Colin Martin find the net for his 5th goal of the season with just under 9 minutes remaining in the half. Martin was replaced by Junior Dillon Gray who would control the striker position up until the final 5 minutes of the game, producing countless attacks on goal but never quite finding his way to score. The first half ended with Wight’s third and final penalty kick, Wight would not return to the game after he and Senior Brayden Cooksey were replaced by Freshman duo Anthony Carey and Jeremiah Paiz. The second half started with Paiz, Carey, Ortuno, and Gray being joined by fellow Freshmen Sergio Bolanos, Isai Galvan and Hunter Twist. Together the Freshmen ran the table on the Eagles by dominating possession for the entire second half as the Varsity upperclassmen were benched for the remainder of the game. Isai Galvan would score inside the box for his second goal of the season and Anthony Carey would manage to put the ball into the net twice for his first two goals of his career. But it was Freshman Demetrio Ortuno who used his slight frame and diminutive stature to raise the fans out of their seats on more than one occasion. Although he never scored, Ortuno arguably provided three of the more entertaining moments of the entire game as he narrowly missed from a diving header where upon he threw his body headfirst through the air to contact the ball, later he nearly completed a bicycle kick in the box and perhaps his greatest missed shot of all was a free kick from the corner of the penalty area that he bent up and over the defensive wall of Eagles and beat the keeper only to have the crossbar cruelly deny him with a thunderous clank. “All in all it was a very entertaining game and it shows just how much talent we are developing here in Charlestown, the future is very bright,” said Coach Andrew Smith about the freshmen performances.

Amidst the downpouring rain that came in wave after wave, the Charlestown boys played host to the Mitchell Bluejackets on Monday evening. Senior striker Colin Martin was tripped from behind inside the box moments before taking his shot, but the referee decided there was no call and Mitchell escaped all but certain opening goal from the Pirates. A few minutes later at the 29:36 mark of the first half, Freshman attacking midfielder Jeremiah Paiz assisted Junior striker Trent Wight to open the scoring. Wight would not be able to finish the game after being shoulder tackled in the lower back on his way to a certain shot on goal, but again the referee chose not to give the penalty kick and instead awarded Mitchell with a goal kick. Playing without starting center back and team captain Alfredo Arredondo who was injured over the weekend, as well as being short Senior right back Esdras Hernandez who is nursing a pulled upper hamstring, and Senior holding midfielder Josh Wray who suffered a contusion to the thigh muscle over the weekend…the Pirates were already playing with six freshmen dressing for the contest, losing Wight was too much to overcome as the rain and the calls on the pitch were certainly not doing anything to make it easier. The Pirates would score again in the second half when Senior Brayden Cooksey sent in a corner kick and the Mitchell goal keeper bobbled the ball into his own net scoring an own goal. Junior Zach Higdon played his first full game in the defensive line for the Pirates and looked admirable, but Arredondo leaves very big shoes to have to fill and the entire back four struggled to find their footing as Mitchell found goals from Junior midfielder Jordan Duncan and a brace from Junior forward Aiden Wheeler to go ahead and win the game 3-2.

Tuesday night, the Charlestown Pirates will look to bounce back against conference opponents Austin at Dutch Reis field. It’s youth soccer night at Charlestown High School and any Charlestown youth soccer player will get in to the game for free by wearing their youth soccer jersey.

On Friday night the Charlestown Boys Soccer team played their first round match up of the Southern Indiana Soccer Classic against Christian Academy of Indiana.  Having never beaten the Warriors before, it was a tough draw for the Pirates. However, the boys dominated possession from the opening whistle straight through to the end of the match and claiming the victory 2-1. Junior Trent Wight scored the opening goal for the Pirates with 33 minutes remaining in the first half on a penalty kick awarded for a CAI hand ball in the box. After some confusion over a controversial offsides call from the referees, Senior Goalkeeper Nick Wirthwein was left standing at the top of his box as he watched Christian Academy dribble past him and score an easy goal to equalize the game. But with just 12:50 remaining in the second half, Freshman forward Jeremiah Paiz made a long crossing pass from the corner that was bobbled by the opposing keeper and ended up falling into the net to put the Pirates ahead for the win. This was Paiz first career goal for the Pirates after he earned an assist to a teammate in an previous contest. The victory placed Charlestown into the Semi-Finals on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 against Southwestern High School (Hanover). However, having not returned home the night before until well after 11:00 pm and having a couple of players taking the ACT before the game, the team was generally sluggish and slow throughout the afternoon as they fought hard in a losing effort to the Southwestern team who had earned a bye and not competed the night before.

The loss to Southwestern landed the Pirates in the 3rd place consolation game against Trinity Lutheran (Seymour) and advanced Southwestern into the Championship against the River City Jaguars, whom the Pirates had already dismantled 6-4 back in August. The Trinity Lutheran contest kicked-off at 6:00 pm and would see the Charlestown boys take home their 3rd victory in 4 games over a 3 day period. Senior Michael Navetta commanded the midfield and penetrated the penalty box where he drew a hard challenge and earned a penalty kick for himself which he easily converted to put the Pirates level at 1-1 as the Junior Jose Arredondo allowed an earlier goal from Trinity Lutheran as he was playing goal keeper for the first time ever as Wirthwein was injured and unable to compete. As the game progressed, a command of the midfield would eventually lead to Navetta sending a ball into Senior Colin Martin inside the box who unselfishly flicked it on to Junior Trent Wight for a nice little goal to take the lead at 2-1. Trinity Lutheran was not finished yet however, as a seemingly stonewalled Freshman Isai Galvan agonizingly watched as they dribbled right passed him as he stood still watching to score the equalizing goal. It would be Senior team captain Michael Navetta who would eventually save the day for the Pirates late in the second half as he took possession of the ball on the far right side flank and launched a long high shot to the far post corner, over the leaping outstretched arms of the Trinity Lutheran keeper and into the net for the go ahead goal.

Charlestown Junior team captain and center back, Jose Alfredo Arredondo, went on a tour of the field as he dribbled through everyone in his way not even five minutes into the game to score a solo goal to open the contest. This was Arredondo’s first goal of the season and he earned it with his play. Less than twenty minutes later Senior forward Brayden Cooksey sent a cross into the box for teammate Michael Navetta, Navetta’s one touch volley shot on goal banged off the cross bar and rebounded perfectly to midfielder Jared Rutkowski who banged home the goal with his head to make the score 2-0 Charlestown at the half. Juniors Zach Higdon and Dillon Gray were able to contribute some solid minutes on the pitch in defense to end the half and would find more playing time later in the game as well. Opening the second half in the first five minutes, Brayden Cooksey again served a nice crossing pass, this time from a corner kick, into the Salem (1-2-2 MSC) box where it found Senior center back Kam Thompson waiting to head it home for his first career goal and make it 3-0. Goalkeeper Nick Wirthwein suffered some early knocks in between the posts but managed to keep a clean sheet throughout the game as Charlestown (1-3 MSC) were able to bounce back from a tough run of losses and re-establish themselves before the final half of the season gets underway.

Charlestown will compete in the Southern Indiana Soccer Classic hosted by Christian Academy of Indiana on Friday and Saturday this weekend before returning home for games against Mitchell and Austin on Monday and Tuesday evenings at Dutch Reis Field. Tuesday’s contest against Austin is Charlestown Youth Soccer Night and the boys hope to welcome all the Charlestown kids playing youth soccer with free admission to the game if they wear their youth soccer jerseys.

Boys Soccer:  Silver Creek 2 – Charlestown 1

It was a close match throughout, as expected, but it was Silver Creek who found their way onto the scoreboard first off a penalty kick late in the first half from Junior Midfielder Jacob Atkins.  Silver Creek held the tenuous lead throughout a good portion of the second half as Charlestown struggled to get the ball in behind their staunch defense.  Finally it was a long through ball from Senior Attacking Midfielder Michael Navetta that assisted Junior Trent Wight for a sweet 1v1 against the Dragons keeper that allowed Wight to slot home the equalizer.  But the draw was not to be tonight, as the Charlestown goal tender was caught coming too far out off his line and watched helplessly as the ball bounced high up and over his head to Silver Creek Sophomore Merlin Palencia who drove home the game winner for the host Dragons.