DANE FUELLING
WZBD.com
NEW HAVEN – The New Haven Bulldogs continue to climb up the NE8 standings after Monday night’s victory over Bellmont, 3-0, and with one fixture left in the conference schedule, they still retain an outside shot at winning what would be a remarkable shared title after Bryan Villegas scored a hat trick to beat the Braves.
Villegas’ first goal, which came in the 26th minute, was totally against the run of the play as the Braves had really been controlling the game and frustrating the New Haven attack, which was constantly on the lookout for long balls to the Bulldog star up top. Coming into the contest with 16 goals already, Villegas was no secret to anyone in the stadium, but when he took the ball to his left foot, moving to his left, he fired the ball past Bellmont keeper Xavior Palacios for a 1-0 lead.
The goal negated 25 minutes of hard work by Jake Hackman and the Bellmont midfield and also ignored a solid performance by the Bellmont back line of Malachi LaVine, Dieder Scheumann, George Gardner and Gavin Braun. They kept Villegas in line, often double teaming him when he did have a chance to turn and face goal.
Bellmont’s best chance to score in the game was actually a series of three shots prior to the opening score, all of which were saved by James Htay, the New Haven keeper. The Braves only had three shots on target the rest of the game.
The Braves went into halftime frustrated at trailing and when they came out, they faced a different New Haven team. Perhaps smelling blood, New Haven became much more aggressive and physical and they moved Villegas to the wing, where he created a bit more mischief than in the first half.
Bellmont’s possessions were often turned away by the Bulldogs with long clearances, leaving the away team with constant throw-in attempts, especially after the first Villegas goal.
New Haven’s Alex Castaneda, Axel Contreras and Octavio Diaz all played extremely well in the second half in the box defending and were largely responsible for the clean sheet kept by the Bulldogs.
Villegas’ move to the outside put Nay Valmyr up top for the home team and he put considerable pressure on the Bellmont Braves’ defense. At 56′, Valmyr’s pressure created a costly turnover that went straight to Villegas and he gave Palacios no time to come up with a miracle, slotting it home to make it 2-0.
The second goal seemed to have deflated the away side and within a minute, they allowed the Bulldogs to complete a series of passes up the field that ultimately led Valmyr to find Villegas for the Senior Night hat trick and the final scoreline of 3-0.
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