Giants crush Leemen

By Cody Clifton Correspondent
Published: May 6, 2008

Waynesboro pulled ahead early and held on late to maintain an 8-3 win over Robert E. Lee on Tuesday in Waynesboro.
Less than three minutes into the game, Mark Ostrander scored on a Martin Mandujano assist to give the Little Giants a 1-0 advantage. The Little Giants stayed aggressive throughout the first half scoring seven goals in the first 21 minutes of the first half.
Thirty minutes into the game, Waynesboro coach Bill Meicke began to pull players off the field. The Little Giants played anywhere from one to three men down the rest of the game, still managing to outscore the Leemen.
Mandujano had a busy first half connecting with a goal of his own eight minutes into the game. Baur Alibekov took over from there.
Alibekov scored two goals over the course of two minutes following the Mandujano goal, the first off a header from a Kyle Wright corner kick. At the 23rd minute, Alibekov contributed an assist to Ostrander.
“We’ve got a pretty strong team,” Meicke said. “We just wanted to come out, play good ball and score some nice goals. Later on we wanted to just possess the ball and try to get some players in that haven’t played a whole lot.”
Alex Moore scored a header for a goal to give the Little Giants another goal while playing down two men.
A Leemen goal by Matt Swartz in the open field ended the shutout.
Just before the first half ended, recent J.V. call-ups Sawyer Janes and Hugo Fernandez stepped onto the pitch and made their presence known. Janes headed a ball into the back of the net from a Hernandez assist.
The second half was played slower with the Little Giants trying to work more players into the game.
“We are one big team even though we have a J.V. and a varsity squad,” Meicke said. “We try to make sure that we get those guys up and give them a little bit of exposure in the game so that it’s not a new thing when they step in and play next year.”
The Little Giants switched out keepers in the second half as Jose Cruz was replaced by Sam Crickenberger. Neither keeper had much work with the ball staying on the Leemens’ side for the majority of the match. Cruz ended with five saves. Crickenberger had one. It was the complete opposite for Leemen keeper Robert Hite. Playing the whole match, Hite ended with 21 saves.
The Little Giants play host to Fort Defiance Thursday night with a chance to wrap up the Southern Valley Title.