As Bolivar (1-0) walked off the pitch on Monday as victors against New Covenant Academy (0-1), it was no surprise as to who provided the brunt of the damage for the Liberators.
Junior midfielder Evan Haney, who led his squad with 13 goals a season ago and is expected to do big things once again in 2016, knocked in the first two scores of the match to lead Bolivar to a 3-0 win in its season opener.
“[Haney] just gives us a spark wherever we put him,” Bolivar head coach Steve Fast said. “He can literally play all over the field and he's good at reading where the ball is going to go. He's solid one on one, he can beat a guy and fire a shot.”
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Haney's first strike came at the 24:27 mark of the first half following efficient and perfectly executed ball movement from one side of the field to the other.
“It was a really good setup from the defense,” Haney said of his first score. “We shot it all the way up the line and got a really good cross from Dihn Phan, and I was lucky to get a touch on that and just finish it.”
Both defenses took over for the remainder of the first period and over the opening 26 minutes of the second, but with 13:15 remaining in regulation, Haney connected once again – further pushing the notion that a move from center-mid to the front could benefit Haney and the Liberators even more.
“We're hoping to get him up top more, but we have to work offensively to be able to get him the ball,” said Fast of Haney. “If we're not getting him the ball enough, then we've got to move him back a little bit.”
Senior Anthony Contreras added the third and final goal of the night to stretch the lead to three and give Bolivar's back line and goalkeeper Will vanHoornbeek plenty of breathing room en route to the shutout.
“Our guys just played hard defense and our goalie was outstanding,” Fast added. “[vanHoornbeek] really communicated and led our team well from the back.”
Despite the loss, New Covenant coach Eric Crain saw a lot of positives from his team, but knows the road will continue to bring challenges after seeing the loss of seven starters.
“We've got a lot of new players,” Crain said. “We're still trying to build the cohesiveness of the team and working on being able to play together.”
Bolivar comes home to host Greenwood on Thursday, while New Covenant plays Cassville on Thursday in the Cassville Classic.
