Columbia, MD – The Dragons went down early, but eventually took control of their first ever contest against the Carroll Lynx as Howard would close out the game on a 7-0 run.
The Dragons were taken by surprise on a long ball over the top in the 11
th minute as forward Nikolai Haldorsen had the ball headed down to him by Anthony Goad to
Howard finally got on the board when a through ball by
Jose Garcia (El Salvador/Colegio San Franciso) found
Luis Wardcantori (Fulton, MD/Reservoir) flying wide open through the middle of the field to get his first goal of the season.
Garcia would go on to score just over a minute later as
Alexander Estrada (Ellicott City, MD/Oakland Mills) played a brilliant long ball over the defense as Garcia latched onto the pass and scored in the bottom right corner of the net. Garcia would double up his goal total late in the first half as
Bradley Muma (Silver Spring, MD/Paint Branch) teed up the center midfielder on another great run through the middle of the field.
The Carroll Lynx clearly struggled to keep up with the pace of the Dragons as they faded in the second half.
Brandon Muma (Silver Spring, MD/Paint Branch) was the beneficiary of Estrada winning the ball just outside of the Lynx goal box as Muma picked up the loose ball and quickly shot it into the net to extend Howard's lead. His brother Bradley would get his name on the scoresheet as a cross in was deftly touched on my
Anderson Marroquin (Elkridge, MD/Hammond) to give Muma the easy shot from the middle of the box.
The magical feet of Marroquin was on display more and more in the second half as he shredded the Lynx defense with his ability to control the ball through traffic. His efforts found pay dirt in the 67
th minute as he picked up the ball outside of the goal box and sliced through on the right side, scoring from a tight angle.
Marroquin would pile one more goal on as a long ball by
Brian Hernandez (Laurel, MD/Laurel) opened up Marroquin to score his seventh goal in the last three games.
Howard outshot Carroll 34-5 in the contest as the Dragons showed domination over the neighbors to the north.
The Dragons will next travel to Chesapeake College on Thursday, September 5 for a 4 PM conference match.