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United pours it on Heartland

By MICHAEL S. BURICH 3 min read
United's Jude Andrea beats Heartland's Ryan Coy for a goal on Thursday at the old South Range football field. (Photo by Michael Burich)

NORTH LIMA -- United and Heartland Christian’s boys soccer teams arrived to Thursday’s game at the old South Range High School football field just about in time to get caught in a big downpour during warmups.

With lightning and thunder all around, a pocket of decent weather opened up a little after the scheduled 5 p.m. start and the teams were able to get in a half of play to make it official with United winning 4-0.

“We always try to get to the field an hour before kick-off so we can go through and get some stretching in, work on ball movement and to get our first touches fine tuned. Our warm up was disrupted by the the initial delay,” United coach Cu

Heartland's Grant Miller and United's Marvin Schreiber battle for control of the ball on Thursday at the old South Range football field. (Photo by Michael Burich)

Heartland’s Grant Miller and United’s Marvin Schreiber battle for control of the ball on Thursday at the old South Range football field. (Photo by Michael Burich)

United's Landon Gordon looks to pass to Gavin Coffee as Heartland's Grant Miller approaches on Thursday at the old South Range football field. (Photo by Michael Burich)

United’s Landon Gordon looks to pass to Gavin Coffee as Heartland’s Grant Miller approaches on Thursday at the old South Range football field. (Photo by Michael Burich)

rtis Jones said. “Overall I’m pleased we did get four goals in that half that we did get in despite the fact we didn’t have an entire warm-up. There are always injury concerns when you don’t get a full warm-up.”

Jude Andrea was the scoring engine for the Golden Eagles as he tallied the first three goals in about 17 minutes. His goals came at the 33:52, 29:52 and 23:29 marks of the first half. He now has 11 on the season.

United’s Dylan Williams was the other goal scorer. Gavin Coffee had three assists., while Aiden Gundersen had one save in goal.

The game went into a delay after lightning was spotted nearby with 8:45 left in the first half. The teams came back after the delay to finish out the half and the game was called complete at the half.

“After that initial rain I thought the field would be worse,” Jones said. “I think they put in some work in the summer and brought in some dirt to improve the crown on the field. I was actually shocked how well it did drain. We play on a grass field too, so our field gets a little swampy like that too. It kinda felt like home. I told the boys that we couldn’t use the field as an excuse.”

The Eagles are 3-2-1 and will be at Badger on Sept. 12. United’s only losses were to Salem and 2025 state semifinalist Kidron Christian. In the Kidron Christian game United was tied at 1 in the 68th minute, but conceded three goals in the last 12 minutes.

Heartland is 1-5 and will be at Lordstown on Wednesday.

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