CUMBERLAND — Fort Hill won its 300th match in program history Monday, and it fittingly came against a city rival.
The Sentinels and Bishop Walsh sparred for nearly 38 minutes of scoreless soccer before Sam Spencer broke the deadlock with a header, and Liam Hamilton and Jacob Bone added second-half scores to lift No. 4 Fort Hill to a 3-0 victory on Monday at Brother Stephen F. Paul Stadium.
Fort Hill controlled the second half. The Spartans didn’t attempt a shot after halftime until the final five minutes.
“I think we looked really good for about 55 or 60 minutes,” Fort Hill head coach Zach Steckman said, “and then there are just times where we drop off, we get a little too negative with each other.
“I understand that there’s a lot of frustration when you have the ball a lot and you can’t put it in the back of the net. But things don’t go well when we start to fight against each other. But other than that, we got the job done. … I’m proud of these guys.”
Fort Hill (2-2) bounced back from a 6-0 defeat to Allegany last week to level its league mark to 1-1. Bishop Walsh fell to 4-4-1 after dropping its city opener.
Bishop Walsh head coach Zach Kocak expressed a similar sentiment about his own club’s performance.
The Spartans had two dangerous chances in the first half but weren’t threatening in the second.
“I thought we played really well for 60 minutes,” the first-year coach said. “We did the same thing with Calvary the last game (a 5-1 loss), we played 60 minutes tough.
“We had an injury to one of our good players, Minh Le, and then we kind of just broke down from there. … We’ve got to be more resilient, but they’re finding it. They’re getting better each day.”
Bishop Walsh’s Jackson Miller had a one-on-one opportunity with the Sentinels’ keeper in the 35th minute that Bobby Brauer saved, and Miller set up a sitter in front of the net less than two minutes later that missed.
Seconds later, Hamilton made a run down the left side and floated a cross to Spencer, who headed it through the goalmouth with 2:05 before halftime for a 1-0 Fort Hill lead.
Fort Hill threatened early and often in the second half, finally breaking through when a handball in the box afforded Hamilton a penalty kick.
Hamilton buried the shot in the left corner with 18:38 remaining, and Fort Hill added another when Bone muscled a Korbin McKenzie long throw-in across the goal line with 14:17 to play.
Fort Hill ended with a 17-7 edge in shots (7-2 on goal) and had a 4-2 margin in corner kicks. Brauer made two saves, and the Spartans’ James Maybury stopped four.
Miller, along with Carson Hamelin, gave Fort Hill’s back line fits in the first half, but the Sentinel defense, anchored by McKenzie, limited Bishop Walsh to just two shots after halftime and just one on goal.
“Jackson was very good on the counter, and when he got into space, he was very confident on the ball,” Steckman said. “I think the biggest thing in that second half, our back four has been very good.”
Steckman credited the effort given by Anthony Palumbo, who rotated to a central defensive midfield position after halftime.
Fort Hill aims to go 3-0 this week. The Sentinels host Keyser (2-6) on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. before a rematch with Bishop Walsh on Saturday at 5 p.m.
The Cumberland City League has long been known for its physicality and aggressive play, but that was lacking Monday.
Both Steckman and Kocak are hoping to see more of that Saturday from their respective teams.
“I can definitely say it was way more physical (last year),” Kocak said. “The fans were into it. It was a pretty competitive game. This one, I thought it was going to be more physical and a tougher environment, but it was actually a quiet type of game, and I was kind of surprised at that. Maybe that’s our fault. Maybe that’s their fault.”