Fulton soccer goes 1-1 in Shootout

Fulton had another impressive showing against Fatima on Friday at the Boonville Shootout but lost a close game the next morning to district opponent Southern Boone.

The Hornets didn't score nine goals this time against the Comets like they in August but had five in the first half on their way to a 6-2 win. Fulton then was locked in a defensive battle against the Eagles that saw no first-half goals but fell short 2-1.

Against Fatima (1-5), junior Dominick Tharp opened the scoring early with a goal in the eighth minute, and sophomore Jayden Ayers scored in the 16th minute off of sophomore Christian Mahoro's first of two assists. Mahoro added a goal to his line in the 29th minute off a feed from senior Alban Dervishi and then junior Josh Narancich scored on his own in the 32nd minute before Fatima's own goal two minutes later. Dervishi would score Fulton's second half goal in the 64th minute off another Mahoro assist.

Head coach Joel Henley liked how many players contributed in this win and gave them a bounce-back win after Fulton's 2-1 loss Tuesday to Marshall.

"Guys stepped in to play that haven't been playing and substitutes came in and gave us good minutes in the game," Henley said.

The game against Southern Boone (5-5) was frustrating beyond the Hornets (6-2, 1-1 NCMC) losing as Henley said he felt they played well enough to win, and the Eagles took advantage of Fulton's defensive mistakes while the Hornets didn't take advantage on offense.

The first goal wouldn't be scored until the 56th minute by Southern Boone before the Eagles scored again in the 66th minute. The latter goal was a go-ahead one after Mahoro scored his second goal in as many days off an assist by Ayers in the 61st minute.

"We controlled the first half and really controlled the second half," Henley said. "We made two mistakes defensively and we didn't finish our chances offensively. We really feel like we outplayed them and were the better team, but we came up a little bit short in the end."

Senior Joey Anderson made 13 saves through the two games.

Fulton will go back in its conference at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday to host Kirksville (1-2, 1-2 NCMC).