Walker scores twice as ’Jacks blank ACM

WYE MILLS – Johnathan Walker scored two goals and Mace Davis earned his second collegiate shutout Tuesday afternoon in Chesapeake College's 3-0 men's soccer victory over visiting Allegany College of Maryland.

"I thought we played smart and unselfish soccer," said Chesapeake head coach Mark Dennis.  "When you don't have a deep bench, it's easy to get tired and out of position, but I thought our guys did a great job staying in position."

Josh Harper's second goal of the season on a penalty kick with 3:01 left in the first half gave the Skipjacks (2-8) a 1-0 lead and Walker scored his two goals less than three minutes apart in the second half to break the game open.  Walker has scored five of Chesapeake's 11 goals this season.

Alejandro Tadeo set up Walker's first goal by sliding a nice pass from the right wing to Walker in the middle of the field.  That gave Walker a chance to settle the ball before blasting a shot from around the top of the box past Allegany goalie Will Teye (10 saves) with 20:03 remaining in the game.

Justin Bathras set the final scoring play in motion with his free kick into the box that found Andrew Harding, who tapped the ball to Walker for the easy goal.

"Bathras sent the ball right to Harding, and after he touched it to me I just touched it into the goal," said Walker.

Walker agreed with his coach about the Skipjacks' improved positioning.

"We've been working on that in practice," said Walker, whose team lost its first six home games before breaking through on Tuesday.  "The last two games we've stayed in position and worked the ball up the field as a unit, not as individuals."

Dennis praised captains Adam Bowers and Jesse Zelinske for "anchoring the defense" and Davis for "spectacular goaltending".  While Davis was only credited with four saves, he cut off multiple balls to thwart potential Trojan scoring opportunities.

Dennis also singled out Tadeo for special attention.

"Alejandro did an excellent job up top recovering balls and pressuring their defense," said Dennis, whose team finished with a 23-11 shots advantage.  "He created a lot of offensive opportunities for us."

Chesapeake dominated the first half, but the game was scoreless until Allegany's Albert Lahai pulled down Harper in the box.  Harper then put a low shot past Teye and into the right corner of the goal.

Allegany (1-11) actually had the better of the offensive chances early in the second half thanks to a counter-attacking strategy that took advantage of Chesapeake flooding its offensive zone.  The Trojans, however, were never able to break through against Davis.

"They had a lot of offensive attacks, mostly off fast counter-attacks," said Dennis.  "They've had a rough season, too, and I thought they played with a lot of passion.  They never gave up."

The Skipjacks play at the College of Southern Maryland on Thursday and host CCBC-Essex next Monday in 4 p.m. games.