Fulton Hornets soccer head coach Brad Oestreich wished his team had just a little more time.
"If we had another couple of minutes, I think we could have put it on them because we were definitely on their heels," Oestreich said.
Fulton's second-half surge left it one goal short in falling to the Hannibal Pirates 3-2 in North Central Missouri Conference play Thursday night at the high school athletic complex.
Fulton (5-7, 2-3 NCMC) trailed 2-0 at halftime on a pair of unassisted goals by Hannibal senior midfielder Trever Hertlein. Hertlein headed in the ball off a corner kick in the 20th minute of the first half, then scored another header off a free kick in the 29th minute.
The Pirates put plenty of bodies in the Hornets' box to create confusion for Fulton senior goalkeeper Craig Latty on Hertlein's scores.
"There were probably about 10 guys in the box and when there's so many guys in the box, it's hard to see what's going on," Oestreich said.
The Hornets' offensive strategy, at least in the first half, was what Oestreich referred to as "kick and run." It wasn't successful and was something Oestreich sought to correct at the break.
"... At halftime, we were talking about passing and putting combination passes together because the first half we were trying to do long balls, and Hannibal's too good of a team and they won't let balls go over the top," Oestreich said.
The Pirates added to their advantage less than 4 minutes into the second half on a tally by freshman midfielder Cory Allensworth.
Oestreich pointed to Fulton's passing in a 5-3 NCMC win at Kirksville on Tuesday night as an example of the kind of ball movement he wanted to see.
Even though the shots weren't going in early in the second half against Hannibal, the chances the Hornets did have were just narrowly missing.
"The whole year we've had a lot of chances, it's just converting them," Oestreich said. "And they did go in (Thursday night), we had two of them go in, but we had our shots and we just couldn't get it in.
"It all comes from passing and if we had just done that in the second half, it might have been a little different."
Fulton got on the board in the 24th minute of the half. Senior midfielder David Lazzari collected the ball on the western sideline and used some nifty footwork to leave a Pirate defender behind him.
Lazzari moved toward the net from the right side and used his left foot to guide the ball toward the bottom left part of the goal post and past Hannibal goalkeeper Luke Anderson to make it 3-1.
"David's definitely a hustler ... and he works so hard, and that's what it'll get," Oestreich said. "He's a team player, too; I know he got the goal there, but he's always looking for his teammates and he's not selfish.
"He's just an all-around superb player, but that was just great moves and a great shot for him."
The Hornets maintained the pressure for the game's final 15 minutes, and almost made it a one-goal game less than 2 minutes later. Senior midfielder Kevin Wallace connected on a shot from the top of the box that just glanced off the right section of the crossbar.
A minute after Wallace's try, Lazzari sent a crossing pass into the Pirates' box that senior forward Austin Wilson headed just wide of the net .
"Kevin and David, the two wingers, when they're both on their game, our outside is one of the best in the conference, I feel," Oestreich said. "Kevin's another one that works hard and he can put passes together and shoot, and that one just skimmed off the top."
With 12:33 remaining, Lazzari executed a move similar to the one he scored on earlier to get past a Hannibal defender, but the shot went too far left and trickled out of bounds.
The Pirates' defense - which seemed to be everywhere a viable Fulton shot was for most of the night - seemed to relax in the game's waning minutes, and Wallace made them pay. Senior midfielder Matt Henry's free kick toward the goal was blocked, but Wallace came in for the rebound and put the ball in the net to cut the Hornets' deficit to a goal with 1:10 to go.
"The defense can never fall asleep because once they fall asleep, it takes just the snap of the finger to put a goal in," Oestreich said. "I think that's what happened there. They got worn out and left Kevin a little open, which you can't do because he'll punish you for it."
Fulton maintained control of the ball in the final moments of play and was pushing toward the net when the final buzzer sounded.
The Hornets outshot Hannibal 13-10, with Latty logging nine saves.
Fulton dropped to 0-7 with a 6-1 loss in the junior varsity match.
The Hornets travel to NCMC foe Moberly at 5 p.m. Tuesday.