Forward Ben Corrodi’s second-half hat trick helped the Malibu Sharks boy’s soccer team overcome a 1-0 halftime deficit on Thursday to go on to defeat the Viewpoint Patriots, 5-1 in front of a home crowd.
“Ben’s one of our most consistent players,” Sharks head coach Mike Doyle said. “He had a very solid performance.”
The strong winds played a huge role in the game, affecting both teams. In the first half, the Patriots received the benefits of the wind. Despite the Sharks dominating the play and control of the ball, going against the wind left them completely frustrated. The wind thwarted the Sharks’ efforts to move the ball forward and attack, throwing off their touch and disrupting passes that could lead to quality scoring chances. The wind also affected the Sharks’ defense, ensuring that clearances could only be made with sharp passes on the ground or by dribbling out of the defense. Any clearance sent into the air was just held up there.
Despite the Sharks’ domination of the ball in the early portion of the game, the Patriots finally took advantage of the wind in the 20th minute. The Patriots scored the first goal of the game on a failed clearance attempt by the Sharks.
Corrodi produced a pair of quality scoring chances, including a breakaway, but neither time was he able to come up with the equalizer, and the score remained 1-0 at halftime.
“In these conditions anything can happen, I was pretty pleased being down one at the half,” Doyle said.
In the second half, with the wind at their backs, the Sharks completely took over the game. Almost the entire first 15 minutes of the half was spent on the Patriots’ side of the field, with the Sharks pounding the Patriots’ goalkeeper, but unable to produce the tying goal.
In the 62nd minute, Corrodi finally got the Sharks on the board and tied the game up at 1-1. Then the floodgates opened for the Sharks, who scored five goals in a 20-minute span. Corrodi put the Sharks up for good three minutes after the first goal on a beautiful give-and-go with midfielder Harry Thomas. Thomas then made it 3-1, when he ripped a shot from the top of the18 that went right through the goalkeeper’s hands and found its way into the net. Corrodi completed his hat trick in the 75th minute, when he was sprung free on a breakaway and buried it into the back of the net.
Conrad Karliss finished off the scoring for the Sharks in the 80th minute on a deflection to make it a 5-1 victory.
Doyle said, “It was a strange game because of the conditions, but I’m pleased with the result.”