SPRINGFIELD — The question might not have been when Mosley and Rutherford last played a boys soccer match as much as who was able to survive abbreviated practices in last week’s chill that otherwise idled the sport in Bay County.
The Dolphins overcame a 19-day holiday layoff with a 5-0 win on Monday night at the Vera Shamplain Sports Complex. It was an exercise of who shed the rust of inactivity the quickest, and the Dolphins had no equal in that regard.
Rutherford had been idle 25 days and the lack of quality practice time showed more drastically as the Rams dropped to 5-4-0. The Dolphins evened their mark at 5-5-1.
There were a total of just five combined shots prior to the first water break at the 20-minute mark of the first half. From that juncture, Mosley hit its stride and the Dolphins had their way. They got goals from Chandler Gilligan and Jack Thompson as the first half ended 2-0, Mosley enjoying a steady breeze that blew mostly in the direction of the Rutherford net and keeper Michael Latham.
By the second half the wind, and the nuisance rain that fell throughout the opening 40 minutes no longer were a factor. But Mosley never let off the throttle.
Goals by Christian Sanchez and Matthew Lewis decided the outcome before Mosley coach Andrew Beasley opted to substitute freely at the second water break.
The Dolphins also were forced to play a man down after Jacob Pickle was served his second yellow card in the 64th minute. Mosley added to its lead, however, when Marc Niemeyer scored the final goal in the 71st minute.
The decision could have been clinched in the first half if not for some solid saves by Latham. The first goal came off a corner kick from Noah Hapner that Sanchez got a head on 15 yards in front of the goal. That effort was blocked, but the ball glanced directly to Gilligan who blasted a shot that glanced off the underside of the crossbar in the 27th minute.
Neither did Latham have a chance on Thompson’s goal. In the 33rd minute the ball came through cleanly to Austin Priemer in scoring position outside the near post. Instead of firing from a difficult angle, Priemer passed to Thompson who was alone in front.
Latham made strong saves on Gilligan and Trevor Roake to keep it 2-0 as the Rams had a difficult time penetrating Mosley’s defense in front of keeper Zach Moenter.
His toughest task came when Ahmed Kamel sent in Ali Mohammed in the 26th minute. Moenter read the play and made a decisive move off the line to smother any chance Mohammed had. Rutherford’s best offering aside from that was a 35-yard free kick that Trey Folsom sailed over the crossbar.
Sanchez scored when Latham mishandled his low shot in the 51st minute and Lewis buried a blast to settle the outcome for good shortly afterward.
Moenter’s best save of the night came against Raian Giawashi in the second half, and Mason Kooley replaced him for the final 20 minutes to preserve Mosley’s shutout.
Mosley;2;3;— 5
Rutherford;0;0;— 0
Scoring — First half: 1. Mosley, Gilligan (Sanchez) 27 minutes. 2. Mosley, Thompson (Priemer) 33 minutes. Second half: 3. Mosley, Sanchez, 51 minutes, 4. Mosley, Lewis, 59 minutes. 5. Mosley, Niemeyer 71 minutes.
Shots: Mosley 17-11-28, Rutherford 5-8-13. Shots on goal: Mosley 7-6-13, Rutherford 2-3-5. Saves: Mosley 2-3-5 (Moenter, Kooley), Rutherford 5-3-8 (Latham, Kamel). Corner kicks: Mosley 4-1-5, Rutherford 0-1-1. Yellow cards: Mosley (Pickle 2, Reid), Rutherford (Folsom).