Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – Hosting a perennial power ranked second in the state in a conference divisional match Solon had a golden opportunity at its finger tips on Thursday.

It turned in to a missed opportunity for the Spartans.

Class 1A second-ranked Dyersville Beckman broke a scoreless tie with a goal in the 73rd minute to escape with a 1-0 win over third-ranked Solon in a WAMAC East showdown at Spartan Stadium that was delayed for 30 minutes in the first half by lightning.

“That is a wasted opportunity today on our part,” Solon coach Jeremy McMurrin said. “We didn’t put forth the effort needed to win. We never gave ourselves a chance the entire match.”

Tom Jaeger snapped a scoreless tie with his team-leading fifth goal of the season with 7:31 left as Dyersville Beckman improved to 3-1 on the season and 2-0 in WAMAC East Division play.

Jaeger found an opening in front of the goal and headed in a Michael Keegan cross for the only goal the Blazers would need.

“The wind and the rain got us going, we knew we could get stuff together,” Jaeger said. “Michael had a good cross and I was just there to put it in and it felt great.”

Solon had a three-match winning streak snapped with the loss and dropped to 6-3 on the season.

The Spartans had a pair of scoring opportunities in the opening 10 minutes of the second half but couldn’t crack through while being shutout for the third time this season.

“Our big problem right now is we show up for the big games and then we don’t show up and it starts on the training pitch,” McMurrin said. “We pick and choose when we are going to put forth effort and the days that we have haven’t showed up and put for the effort it’s bit us every time.”

The teams played a nearly even first half that was disrupted by a lightning strike with 26:34 left before halftime.

Both teams battled periodic heavy rain and a steady wind that made offensive execution a challenge.

It was Beckman that finally found a way to crack through.

“We just tried playing our ball, go to the corner, send it over and play our game,” Jaeger said. “That’s what we do, outrun people.”

Beckman countered a Solon attack and Keegan played a ball into the box that made its way to a unmarked Jaeger.

The junior got enough on a header to slip a shot past Solon keeper Ian Johnson.

“I don’t know if it was a missed mark or if he got screened I don’t know exactly happened but you know what you don’t have to blow the net off to score a goal,” McMurrin said. “Just the right placements and it was one of those spots where we couldn’t get to it.

Solon returns to action on Saturday when it hosts West Delaware and Central DeWitt in a WAMAC doubleheader.

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