Northern Oklahoma College started the season fast with two goals in the first twenty minutes, and looked like they could name the score, then a red card changed the whole game in a 2-1 win over Eastern at Maverick Field in the season opener.
Damorney Hutchinson did what he did so many times last year scoring an early goal to put the Mavs up 1-0 just fifteen minutes into the game. Moments later Marcovich Brown put the Mavericks up 2-0 off an assist from Jaron Frye. It looked like it was going to be an easy game for the 17th ranked Mavericks, but Northern midfielder Daniel Clarke picked up a red card on a hard tackle leaving the Mavs a man down for nearly seventy minutes in stifling heat of 107 degree heat index.
Eastern took advantage of the extra man and controlled the play for the majority of the rest of the game, but couldn't generate much offense. It wasn't until late in the second half that the Mountaineers were able to get on the scoreboard. Northern fouled in the box giving Eastern a penalty kick, which they converted to draw within one goal. Late in the game it looked like Eastern would get the equalizer off a corner kick, but Northern goalkeeper, Harry Archer, tipped the header off the crossbar over the goal. After the close call the Mavs were able to see the game out and pick up the win.
"The red card killed us," said coach Michael DuRoy. "It's not just that we went a man down for most of the game it's the position that got sent off. We started the game without four center midfielders, two of which would most likely have started the game. Then we get a center mid sent off, and another gets a yellow card. We couldn't trust him not to get another yellow and get sent off leaving us two players down. So in essence we played the majority of the game without six center mids. That is difficult under any circumstances. Add in the heat and you get what happened today. We were fortunate to win."
"We should learn a lot from this game, hopefully," he added. "This team has a lot of skill and athleticism. We haven't shown a lot of toughness and self-discipline though. It's nearly impossible to be a great team without those two things, and it's very difficult to teach. We need more accountability and leadership from the players."
The Mavs host Pratt (KS) Friday at 4 p.m. in Tonkawa.
