BOARDMAN — Eleven shots on goal. Over twenty shots for the game. The opposition only had seven and the Boardman Spartans still fell to an opportunistic Austintown Fitch Falcon boys soccer team, 4-0, Tuesday night in All-American Conference Red Tier play.

“You don’t know what to say to the team after a game like that,” Boardman coach Eric Simione said. “They really did play well. You always tell them that what you are looking for is not the win or the loss. Did you play well? Did you play together? Did you play smart? They did all of those things. They created so many opportunities. The goalie made a couple of really great saves.”

That goalie was freshman Jamey Sorrells. He came up big as the Spartans (4-3-1, 1-2) had a lot of great looks at the net but either saw Sorrells swallow up their shots, miss on shots a bit too high or see Josiah Berni save his goalie at one point with a save with 10:50 left in the first half.

“He did a good job,” Fitch coach Tracey Direnzo said. “We have a strong defense. Our goalkeeper, he’s awesome. He really is. He’s a freshman. He’s making his name known around the area. He’s playing lights out.”

Fitch (6-2-1, 3-1) applied the pressure early scoring seven and nine minutes into the game with goals from Marcus Debaldo and Nick Mortaro.

“From the start, we had the energy,” Direnzo said. “We were hustling to the ball. We were up for this game. We were really putting the pressure on them. We had to because Boardman’s a strong team. They have a ton of seniors on that team. They have experience. They’re smart. We knew two goals wasn’t going to be enough. We were fortunate that they didn’t get some in.”

Fitch would only have one more shot on goal in the first half.

“That’s the way Fitch plays,” Simione said. “When they get one, Fitch has a strong tendency to follow a goal with another one right away. That’s just something they do. They do well. I fell like we took over the game after that second goal.”

It looked that was going to be the case as the Spartans were creating a shot on goal almost every other minute in the first and for the middle 40 minutes of play.

“They are an excellent midfield team,” Simione said. “They have strong players out there that are very physical. They are very skilled. They don’t back down and I don’t think we did either. It was a very strong and physical game. I thought we controlled a very large portion of the game. We created so many opportunities to score. We just weren’t able to finish.”

Though each time it seemed like Boardman was going to finish off their play with a goal, Sorrells came up big to deny Boardman any type of momentum.

“That was the difference in the game — the accuracy of the shooting,” Simione said. “Fitch is a good team. We’re a good team. This is probably one of the longest rivalries in the area. Both our communities long had soccer before some others did.

“It’s always a good game. It was a very well-played game. Twenty shots and you have to put something in. You can’t have that many opportunities go by.”

Andrew Lescsak added two goals with 11:53 and 8:42 left to seal the win as the Falcons bookended the game with their play at the beginning and the end.

“He’s a great player. He’s one of our captains. He’s a very skilled player. He knows what to do with the ball. “We had to keep the pressure on them. We were just working for that one goal.

“Our defense really stepped it up. To get a shutout against that team is big. They really did a great job.”