As the game progressed, Van Alstyne had another quality chance, chipping a ball from just outside the box that forced Wildcats keeper Nick Papas to retreat, as the ball sailed just high over the crossbar. The Panthers kept up their attack as Van Allen burst free on the left side, beating his defender to get off a shot at the near post that went off the hand of Papas and then off the post for a corner kick.
After a missed opportunity on the ensuing corner kick, the game’s momentum began to change. Schultz used his speed to get free on the left side and fired a shot wide of the right post in the 31st minute. In the 33rd minute, Corey Legge took a corner kick for Maple Hill, and Schultz got free. With the ball sailing toward goalie Hayden Crellin, Schultz jumped to challenge and headed the ball in for the game’s first goal. Immediately after that first goal, a Chatham captain was handed a yellow card for dissent toward the referee. Five minutes later, another Panther was handed a card, this time a defender. The Wildcats quickly took advantage, as Adrian Donnelly sent the free kick from midfield into the box, where Schultz again got a head to it and put it away for a 2-0 Wildcat halftime lead.
With those two goals, Chatham seemed to struggle to regain their footing in the battle for the supremacy in the Patroon. Maple Hill started to control more possession, while Schultz and Van Allen kept firing back and forth at each other’s keepers. Each team had its chances, but neither could capitalize until the 76th minute, when Schultz was fouled 25 yards from goal right in the center of the field. Before the Panthers could set up a suitable wall in front of him, Schultz fired a low shot into the corner of the goal to ice the game.
The game was a midseason showdown between what many thought would be the top two offenses and defenses in the league, but at the end of the afternoon the Wildcats had seemed to make a clear statement to the rest of the league that they were tops in both categories. Chatham showed early on that they were even if not better than Maple Hill, but they were not able to capitalize on their early chances, although the back four of Simon Day, Tyler Mashaw, Alex Tine, and Michael Gilbert were able to contain the electrifying Shultz until the final minutes of the first half. Each team put seven shots on goal. Crellin made four saves for the Panthers, while Papas stopped seven for Maple Hill.
The loss drops the Panthers to 6-1 in the league, alone in second place behind the Wildcats. The Panthers are off until Tuesday when they play the first of their two-game slate next week. First up Tuesday is a trip to always tough Cairo-Durham before they host Taconic Hill on Thursday and begin their second set of games against Patroon Conference teams.
