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Grizz boys victorious in SOC-opener By JOE ZAVALA Ashland Daily Tidings The Ashland High boys' soccer team played great in the beginning, great in the end and was just good enough in between to start its Southern Oregon Conference season with a win. Grizzly senior striker Thomas Souza scored two minutes in and junior striker Fabian Garcia-Flores scored with nine minutes left, as Ashland opened league play with a 2-1 victory over Roseburg at Ashland Middle School. "We played the first 10, 15 minutes, I think, our game," said Ashland High coach Eisa Tiaa Toutou. "Then suddenly we scored the goal in two minutes and I think that just completely made (us) kind of think it's an easy game, now we're going to score goals, try to attack without organizing, and that's a key element for our game." Roseburg senior midfielder Erik Fabrizius beat Ashland senior goal keeper Joel Silverman with seven minutes to go to make it interesting, but the Grizzlies shut down the Indians the rest of the way to preserve the victory. Fans were still getting settled when Souza, a Brazilian exchange student, took a pass from Garcia-Flores and punched it home to give Ashland a lead it would never relinquish. The Grizzlies (3-3 overall, 1-0 SOC) padded that lead in the 81st minute when Garcia-Flores controlled an inside feed by junior midfielder Corey Costantino and left-footed it in off the right post. Moments later, a defensive breakdown by the Grizzlies led to Fabrizius' 20-yard run, which he also punctuated with quick shot just inside the right post. Greenberg wasn't seriously threatened from that point on, though a nice save earlier, in the 77th minute off another Fabrizius fast break, proved crucial. Ashland out-shot Roseburg (3-4, 0-1) 9-1 in the first half and 12-7 in the second. The Grizzlies had eight shots on goal in the first half to the Indians' one, but the difference was only 6-5 in the second half. The Grizzlies were impatient in stretches and just a little off in others. A beautiful setup nearly produced a goal in the 42nd minute when senior midfielder Austin Buell found a See BOYS, Page 10 streaking Rick Ferguson, but the senior striker's shot flew well over the post. "I just think sometimes we're hungry to score, not hungry to organize it and finish it," Toutou said. "That's key. Patience is key. We didn't have the patience." Garcia-Flores, Souza and Ferguson provided most of the Grizzly highlights and demonstrated that Ashland's attack should be a force. Ferguson abused Roseburg's defense with some nifty ball handling and Garcia-Flores was everywhere. "We're supposed to get a lot of goals from them if we recognize and organize our play of ball to the feet and look for the open space and make the connection," Toutou said. "If you check to see who's running off the ball and the third attacker will see that, we'll score more goals. But, if we're going to be greedy and hold the ball for a longer time and we try to dribble through everybody, then we have a hill to climb." Ashland's continues its seven-match SOC schedule Saturday at Grants Pass. In other league action Tuesday, conference favorite South Medford bullied Eagle Point 7-0, North Medford nipped Klamath Union 2-1 and Grants Pass beat Crater 2-0. Ashland, the No. 2-rated team in a preseason SOC coaches poll, won't play No. 1 South Medford until Oct. 14, at home. The Panthers were also ranked No. 4 in the state in the latest Class 4A coaches' poll. LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -