CUMBERLAND — Fort Hill came into Tuesday night’s match at Greenway looking to make a statement — Allegany had other ideas.
The Campers controlled the match from start to finish, scoring three goals off crosses, one from a long throw-in, one on a counter attack and one on a sensational hesitation move by Luca Jacovino.
Jacovino and Noah Simmons garnered two goals apiece, and top-ranked Allegany cruised past third-ranked Fort Hill, 6-0, to open the Cumberland City League.
“I told them it was the prettiest Allegany soccer game that I’ve seen in two years since that state championship team,” Allegany head coach Blake Geatz said, referencing the 2023 squad that started 18-0 and fell in the title game.
“I thought that was better than every single match that we played last year. They did everything that our philosophy tells them to do, which is possess the ball, be patient, move it side to side and find overloads out wide. And they did a great job of that.”
Allegany upped its record to 2-0-1 overall, 1-0 in the Western Maryland Athletic Conference and 1-0 in the city.
Fort Hill, which dropped a narrow 3-2 result to No. 2 Mountain Ridge on Saturday, fell to 1-2 (0-2 WestMAC).
The Sentinels had a pair of point-blank chances in the opening 20 minutes in transition, but Alco keeper Eoin Mowbray, who finished with four saves, denied them both.
Fort Hill didn’t threaten again until a pair of well-struck Liam Hamilton free kicks in the 65th and 68th minutes, both saved by Mowbray.
“Got a lot of work to do,” Fort Hill head coach Zach Steckman said. “We felt that we were ready coming in to the night. We felt we had a good showing at the shootout over the weekend, and clearly we probably didn’t have them as prepared as we thought we did as coaches.
“A lot of credit to Allegany. That’s a really good team. But, you know, if we take our chances early, we had a few where we got out on a counter. If we take our chances, it might be a different game.”
Allegany out-shot Fort Hill, 24-6 (16-4 on goal), and had a 5-2 advantage in corner kicks.
Both coaches remarked on Allegany’s dominance in 50-50 balls.
The Campers also had superiority in the air, which resulted in the club’s first two goals.
The first, with 18:30 to play in the opening half, came when Kohen Madden served a perfect cross to Jacovino for a header goal in the box.
Then, with 14:02 to play in the half, Jacovino played the role of distributor, finding Cole Ricker on the back post with a cross.
“The second goal from Cole Ricker, from Luca, sticks out in my head,” Geatz said. “And just because that was so gorgeous, the way they took it down the middle of the field, dished it wide, first time low cross, first time finish. I couldn’t really ask for anything more.”
Jacovino made it a 3-0 margin at the half with the lone unassisted goal of the night.
The freshman faced a Fort Hill double team in the box and faked out both with a hesitation move, beating the double and rocketing a shot in the top right corner with 6:42 on the clock.
Jacovino nabbed his second assist on Allegany’s first goal of the second half when he linked up with Chris Manherz, who flew across the goalmouth to head the ball into net with 28:46 remaining.
Simmons tallied the final two goals, scoring first with 23:02 to play when an Owen Rice long throw-in was redirected off the head of Ricker to Simmons on the weak side.
The junior capped the day’s scoring by putting away a Ryan Mitchell assist in the 65th minute.
Allegany was able to limit Hamilton defensively, who was one of the area’s most dangerous players last year with 18 goals and 13 assists.
Geatz highlighted the Campers’ communication defensively in making sure Hamilton was accounted for at all times.
“I think Eoin Mowbray is a great goalkeeper, and in 1v1 situations, he shut us down all night,” Steckman said. “We’ve got to find a way to get Liam more involved.
“He’s obviously a focal point for us. He’s a focal point for the other team, too. They really mark him. They look for him, and we’ve got to find a way as a staff and as a team to combat that and get him more involved to his strengths.”
Fort Hill keeper Bobby Brauer finished with 10 saves.
Fort Hill resumes city play at Bishop Walsh (4-2-1) on Monday at 4 p.m.
Allegany welcomes Southern (1-0) on Thursday at 7 p.m. Like the Sentinels, the Rams are looking to showcase they belong in the conversation with the WestMAC elites: the Campers and Mountain Ridge.
“They’re looking to prove something,” Geatz said. “They have nothing really to lose. Being a program with very recent success. And I know that they’re bringing back basically the same midfield.
“If we don’t show up on Thursday night, we’re going to be in for a world of trouble.”