Five Different Players Score as Harford Men’s Soccer Opens Conference Season with 5-2 Win Over Prince George’s

From the HCC sports desk:

BEL AIR, Md.—The Harford men’s soccer team opened MDJUCO conference play on Tuesday night with a commanding, 5-2 win over Prince George’s at a chilly Harford Stadium. The Fighting Owls (1-1, 1-0 MDJUCO) held the Owls (1-1, 0-1 MDJUCO) scoreless until the final seconds of the second half, as an own goal by Harford marked the first tally of the night for Prince George’s.

Sophomore keeper Taylor Dize (Bel Air, Md./Salem Christian) was brilliant in the net, stopping a season-high ten shots in 90:00, while his counterpart Patrick Todaro recorded just one save.

Harford spread the wealth around, with five different players notching a goal on the night and two more players adding assists in a much tamer game than the Fighting Owls season-opener with just one yellow card drawn in Tuesday’s contest.

The Owls outshot Harford in the first half, 9-6, but the Fighting Owls managed to sneak two by Prince George’s keeper while Dize came up with six big saves.

Freshman Kyle Bem (Bel Air, Md./C. Milton Wright) started the scoring off in the ninth minute as he corralled a bouncing ball and fired from about 12 yards out into the upper right corner of the goal.

Sophomore Bryan Young (Jarrettsville, Md./North Harford) gave the Fighting Owls an insurance goal at the 32:38 mark as he headed sophomore Santi Meija’s (Bel Air, Md./C. Milton Wright) kick into the upper right side to put Harford up, 2-0.

Harford would take the 2-0 lead into the break before Prince George’s fired off a series of shots to start the second half. The Fighting Owls would make it a comfortable three goal lead just nine minutes into the second stanza, as freshman Mike Heiland (Fallston, Md./Fallston) forced a turnover just inside the Prince George’s box and quickly dished to a streaking freshman Nick Burdick (Bel Air, Md./Bel Air) who fired from about 10 yards out on the right side into the lower left corner at the 56:24 mark.

A few minutes later, the Owls would see their first goal on the board as the ball bounced off a Harford player in the midst of a scramble for an own goal and to cut the lead to two, 3-1.

The game would slow for a bit before Prince George’s Todaro came out of the goal to challenge and freshman Prince Conney (Kumasi, Ghana/Adventist) dribbled one past him during the 69th minute to put Harford back up by three, 4-1.

Freshman Jon Bizzell (Kingsville, Md./Redeemer Classical) would tack on the final Harford goal at the 87:47 mark after taking a left-side pass from freshman Nick Milich (Bel Air, Md./C. Milton Wright) and dekeing the Owl goalie before putting the ball into the net to make the score 5-1 in favor of Harford.

Prince George’s would finally get their chance to put a goal of their own on the board as they were awarded their second penalty kick of the game at the 89:49 mark. After missing his first in the 35th minute of the first half, Nana Bamfo beat Dize to the left on his second attempt on the way to the 5-2 final score.

Harford was outshot, 19-14, but held a 4-2 advantage on corner kicks while committing 17 fouls to Prince George’s 14.

The Fighting Owls return to action on Thursday when they take to the road for the first time this season and face Gloucester at 3:30 p.m. before returning home to host Hagerstown on Saturday at 12:00 p.m.