Lights out! Cape soccer snaps in second half on Sprinturf field

Cape soccer trailed Milford at halftime 1-0 then it was 'lights out” for the Vikings. A bank of lights closed its charge account, so the soccer guys waited for the hockey girls to finish a game on turf field two, then moved to the brighter and faster venue to finish the game.

“What a great stadium for soccer,” said coach Gary Montalto.”The field is faster and five yards longer and the crowd right on top of you. It was a great experience for the kids.”

And a good thing it wasn't Euler's night off, as Max Euler chipped in a pass from David Cespedes to tie the game just 2:15 into the second half.

“It felt amazing to score the first soccer goal in this new stadium,” Euler said. "I wanted to try my best to keep our undefeated record and score a couple of goals."

That was followed by a Michael Harmon penalty shot at 8:30 into the half, which was then followed by a header by Euler over an out-of-the-box goalie at 14:27 for a final 3-1 victory that didn't come easy.

The Bucs scored in the first half on a restarted penalty kick - two times the charm - by Hugo Arreguin-Orta.

The penalty was called on a push by Cape on an attempted header by Milford inside the box. The first penalty shot hit the crossbar, but the official said he never blew the whistle to start the play and awarded another shot.

Griffin Kammerer had five saves for the Vikings, while Brent McFarland had eight stops for Milford. The Vikings led in total shots 11-6.

“Everything went in the middle in the first half; it was just awful," Montalto said after the game. "We really had a very poor 40 minutes. To Milford's credit, their team tactics were outstanding.

"There is no question that the halftime delay helped us out. It gave us a chance to talk a little further to some players and to explain to them not to go back to trying to do everything themselves.”

Coach responded to a question about the great second half played by Euler:  ”He has a lot of talent; he's a very dangerous player up front and he'll take some pressure off of David [Cespedes] because he's a very dangerous kid up front. His chip over top on the first goal and the header over top, most kids can't do that.”

Cape moves to 7-0-1 on the season and will host Lake Forest, 0-7, at 6 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 11.