The Perryville Pirate boys soccer team improved to 12-6 after a victory over Fredericktown Monday night. The PHS offense rallied around a second half red card and a Dezman Hampson hat trick to come back from down 2-1 to win 3-2.
The Pirate offense took the lead early with a goal from Hampson two minutes into the game, but Fredericktown was able to respond quickly with a game tying goal from Carter Jordan, Jordan then gave the Blackcats a 2-1 lead late in the first half on a penalty kick goal with a minute remaining before the break.
After a first half in which neither team could establish momentum and control possession, the Pirates were able to take control in the second half. A red card in the 48th minute gave Perryville a man advantage that would swing momentum in their favor for the rest of the match.
Hampson scored his second goal to tie the score at 2-2 with 27 minutes remaining, and completed the hat trick to give Perryville the 3-2 lead with 18 minutes remaining in the game.
Dezman’s game winning hat trick came on senior night, where he was honored before the game along with fellow seniors Lane Yamnitz and Justen Geile.
“It feels great because it definitely picked us up a lot from the beginning,” Hampson said of his 3 goal performance. “We were up 1-0 and then kind of let down a little bit, but scoring those goals will really bring our team up and our momentum and really bring our energy up.”
Perryville head coach Dwayne Hadler said he believes the Pirates could have played better in the first half following the early goal, but he was happy with how they turned things around and completed the comeback late.
“I think we played to their level,” Hadler said. “I think they’re a much improved team. They’re doing so much better. They play very direct, come up forward, and they got a ball on us early. And then the PK was just, again, pressure on us. At halftime we talked about a few things, got our focus back, and then Dez had a heck of a game. That hat trick, that’s big on senior night, too, so that’s fun. The card changed things a little bit, but they still had the energy for a few minutes. The difference was at the end, once we broke them down and scored the second goal, then you can tell the card made the difference.”
Five games remain in the regular season for the Pirates, four of which will be on the road before the district playoffs begin in November. The Pirates are now 12-6 with a great opportunity to gather more wins late as all five remaining opponents have records under .500. Perryville’s next game at the Bank of Missouri Soccer Complex will be against Kennet on October 27 with a 5:30 p.m kickoff.
