The Jonathan Law boys soccer team played 10 defenders behind the ball looking to stop Foran High’s high-powered attack led by Leandro Jorge and Cedrick Lingane, while the host Lions played special attention to the Lawmen’s talented striker Kevin Linn before a large crowd at the Vito DeVito Sports Complex on Monday night.
Enter Law’s Taylan Altin, who not only marshaled the visitor’s defense, but accounted for the game’s only goal off a free kick from 10 yards beyond the center stripe with 5:20 remaining in the first half.
“I’ve worked very hard on my game,” Altin said. “The entire team rose up tonight.”
Law improved to 2-2 on the season.
“This was a rivalry game and our intensity level was ten-fold,” head coach Mike Gruber said after the win. “We had to play hard, compete for every ball and stay compact (on defense).”
Foran is now 1-4.
“We knew they were going to play one-up with ten behind the ball,” Lions’ head coach Rick DiStefano said. “They tried to bottle us up; we tried to get the ball on the wings, which we did. We just didn’t get the ball inside enough.”