LISBON — Hall-Dale kept pressing until the final buzzer.

Down by a goal to Lisbon in an MVC boys’ soccer contest, the Bulldogs were awarded a free kick just past midfield with 20 seconds remaining. Hall-Dale sent a perfect ball into the box, but Lisbon keeper Jonah Sautter was up to the task, catching the ball at its highest point for his fifth and final save, preserving for the Greyhounds a 1-0 win over the Bulldogs.

After catching the ball, Sautter booted the ball toward the school’s football field, showing some emotion as the final buzzer sounded.

“As soon as they called the free kick, I just called everybody back and I knew we had to make a play there,” Sautter said. “The ball went up and I knew I had to grab it. I did and that was the game right there. I don’t what happened, I was really pumped up after that.”

It was his second key save in the final two minutes. Sautter also had to go up and retrieve a corner kick.

He controlled the box for all 80 minutes of the game.

“Hall-Dale is one of those teams you are always fearful every time the ball is at their feet or a set play,” Lisbon coach Dan Sylvester said. “You are always wondering in the back of your mind what’s going to happen and what kind of look they are going to give you. Our kids did a good job of being resilient and Jonah, like I said, commanded the 18 (-yard box) today.”

The win improves Lisbon to 5-1-2, while the Bulldogs suffered their second loss of the season and are now 6-2-1.

“We had our chances,” Hall-Dale coach Andy Haskell said. “We knew that their strengths were with their free kicks and their throw-in, still ball situations. They took advantage of the still ball situation and scored on the throw-in. I thought we carried play throughout and had a lot of the chances. I don’t know what the shots were, but I know we clearly dominated the shots situation. That’s soccer and hats off to Dan and Lisbon, you knew that they were going to play hard. It’s unfortunate today that we missed out on some opportunities.”

The Bulldogs had a sense of urgency the final 15 minutes as they looked to tie the game. Their offense kept moving forward as they fired eight shots toward the Greyhounds’ net.

“The last 30 minutes I was looking at the clock to see when the time was winding down,” Sautter said. “I looked at my defense and said, ‘Look we got got to focus on defense now.'”

Lisbon didn’t have too many offensive chances in the game, with just four shots on goal, but the Greyhounds did capitalize on their first chance, just 14:59 into the game. Nick Lerette threw the throw-in into the box, where Hall-Dale keeper Ashton Abbott looked to get the ball out of harm’s way, but it hit off different body parts. Chris Normand corralled the ball and fired it into an open cage.

“I think going into the game where you play the Hall-Dales, the Monmouths, the top teams here, you are looking to score off set plays,” Sylvester said. “We’ve had some decent success and we were getting some good opportunities. Chris was at the right place at the right time. You know, that’s what happens, you just got punch one in.”

The tone of the the game could have been different right off the bat when the Bulldogs sent a cross into the box in the opening minutes. The shot missed wide.

“That could have been the game right there,” Haskell said. “We sent (Malcolm) Avore in and if he finishes that right off, it’s a different ball game. We are up 1-0 and then they are forced to chase the game. It was a tough result and you are going to get those sometimes — it’s how you bounce back. We have a big game against Monmouth on Tuesday and, you know, move on from there.”

nfournier@sunjournal.com

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