Dodgers Boys Soccer Falls to Morris Hills in Opener

A lack of experience was evident on Saturday morning for the Madison High School boys soccer squad as it fell to Morris Hills 2-0 in the season opener, in Madison.

The Dodgers looked strong in the first half, controlling possession and rarely allowing the defensive minded Morris Hills team any offensive opportunities.

"I think it's a little bit of a wake up call," head coach Gary Adair said. "There's a lot of inexperience, and I think it really showed today. I'd rather it happen early in the season, so we can build on it. It's disappointing, but it's not the end of the world."

While Madison controlled the time of possession, it struggled to get the ball inside to striker Jorge Hoyos. When Hoyos was able to control the ball, the Morris Hills defense aggressively keyed on him, barely allowing him to move, let alone take shots.

"Every time I'd get the ball, there would be three guys on top of me," Hoyos explained. "We have to work and I guess we just have to play the ball back some more."

"You have to give credit to Hills, because they just compacted in the middle and shut down every shot we had," fellow captain Mike Lami.

"Jorge is a better skill player, I believe, than the rest of the players on the field and when he can't get a shot off, it's difficult to win."

The difficulty continued in the second half as Morris Hills came out aggressive, no longer loading up its back line, but rather attacking the Madison defense.

And as they attacked, they saw more and more quality chances.

"I think they were a lot more attack-minded in the second half and I think they were a little too worried about our players in the beginning," Adair said. "Also, not getting a goal in the first half with all our possessions, probably gave them a little confidence and we didn't deal with it quite as well, especially defensively, in the second half."

With Madison looking tentative up and down the pitch, turning the ball over, and continuing to lack decent offensive chances, Morris Hills capitalized as they scored twice in the half, both on breakaway opportunities.

"It's the movement off the ball that's the problem. If people can't keep the ball, then that's an individual thing, but as a team we have to be able to create space and have people moving off the ball," Adair said.

"To be honest, (Adair) gave us a good talk at halftime and I thought we were going to go out there strong, but obviously they came out stronger," Lami said.

Madison will look to rebound at home against Parsippany on Tuesday at 4 p.m.