SEVIERVILLE, Tenn. | For a second consecutive night, a short-handed Oneida team found a way to sneak away with a road win on Tuesday (April 4). This time, it was at Northview Academy, where the Indians defeated the Cougars 2-1 on an off night offensively.
It was Oneida's second win in a 24-hour stretch, and the second road game in as many nights — both to Sevier County.
“It was obvious from the start that last night's game and the long road trip home did affect us,” Oneida coach Derek Keeton said.
The Cougars jumped out to an early 1-0 lead, but the Indians answered with Levi James scoring off a deflected shot by Mason Keeton. Five minutes later, James assisted a goal by Nick Gilbert to make it 2-1, and that's the way things would stand the rest of the way.
“Levi played exceptionally well tonight, getting a goal and an assist,” Keeton said. “With the absence of (Luke) Barna, he logged a lot of minutes in the center mid position.”
Oneida had 11 shots on goal in the first half and 14 in the second half, but struggled to finish.
“We just had a difficult time connecting tonight.”
At the keeper position, Gavin Keeton finished with 11 saves.
“For the most part, the defense played really well in front of him,” Keeton said.
“Our guys tonight found a way to win on a night that our offense was not clicking and we were down some players,” Keeton said. “We were fighting fatigue and also had many no-calls inside the 18 that would have changed the game. It was very good adversity for our team and they responded well. We are still a work in progress but I like the fight in this team. They will find a way to win.”
Oneida 3, TKA 2
SEYMOUR, Tenn. | Oneida picked up a “huge” win at The King's Academy here Monday (April 3), scoring a 3-2 win over the private school in the first of three road games during the spring break week.
Nick Gilbert scored two goals, while Mason Keeton added a goal and had two assists, as the Indians held on for the narrowest of victories over TKA.
It was a 1-1 game at the half, after Keeton scored on an unassisted goal early and TKA answered. The Lions out-shot the Indians 11 to nine in both the first and second halves.
Keeton assisted a goal by Gilbert early in the second half to give the Indians a lead that would stand most of the rest of the way. However, TKA tied things up in the final five minutes.
With two minutes remaining, Keeton again assisted Gilbert, and then Gavin Keeton made a save in the net with 12 seconds remaining to preserve the win.
“TKA is a really skilled, talented, high-quality team,” Oneida head coach Derek Keeton said. “Wes Hurst played absolutely amazing. He was everywhere and he needed to be for us to pull off this victory.
“That's not to say our other defensive guys didn't play well because they did; it was the quality of team we were having to go against,” he added.
Gavin Keeton finished with 17 saves.
“He had to play at an extremely hard level for us to pull this win out,” Keeton said. “In the last 10 minutes he had two different instances where he was one-on-one with the offensive player and won both of those plays. Guys like Isaac Martin, Levi James, Wyatt Yancey, Reice Kennedy, Sam Bell, Grady Keeton and Ben Gilbert just battled to win balls. In the end, it was the experience and play-making ability of Mason Keeton and Nick Gilbert. Those two are amazing together. They know each other so well.”
