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Summary

Malone scores first hat trick as Roaders top Lions in boys soccer By Bill Cauley for The Frederick News-Post, March 26, 2021

WALKERSVILLE — When Logan Malone had the opportunities to score short-range goals against Walkersville on Thursday, the Brunswick sophomore striker didn’t waste them. Malone had his first career hat trick against a stubborn Lions defense, and those were the only goals of the game in the Railroaders’ 3-0 boys soccer shutout of Walkersville. Malone wasn’t sure how to react on his first three-goal match, but he remembers when he wasn’t as focused as he would have liked. He’s noticed a change in his overall style of play, and he likes it. “It’s something I’ve been working on,” Malone said. “It’s starting to come around. I could feel it in this game.” Once he got into his groove Thursday, Malone was all over the place. His moves to the ball were quick and decisive. Not an easy task on Thursday, considering the Lions had four strong backs in the defending third of the field, especially in close to the goal box. Still, Malone found a way to get past defenders, making his own scoring opportunities. Malone’s first goal came with 3 minutes, 30 seconds left in the first half. After getting the ball, he knew he had a defender in pursuit, so he made a quick turn. Another defender had collapsed on him in the meantime, making the task more difficult. Malone countered by flipping the ball to his left foot, punching his shot in the bottom-right corner of the goal for a 1-0 Brunswick lead. Walkersville tightened its defense for the remainder of the first half and held on until the last 10 minutes of the match, where Malone scored his second goal. He took a cross from Michalec Milauskas, then beat his defender, finishing with an easy tuck into the goal. Malone completed his hat trick in the final two minutes of the match. Knowing Walkersville’s defenders were getting tired, Malone took a throughball pass from Will Burton. “I just kept by cool and put the ball in the corner of the net,” Malone said. While Malone provided the scoring, the Railroaders needed a strong effort from sophomore keeper Finn McGannon, who earned the shutout with six saves — but it wasn’t easy. The Lions had a 13-12 edge in shots. Most of Walkersville’s shots came in the first half. The Lions had a close-range shot bounce off the crossbar with 33:07 left in the first half. With the match winding down, McGannon faced a challenge against Walkersville’s Toby Ogwulu. Less than 10 yards out, Ogwulu fired a point-blank kick right at McGannon, who knocked it away. Walkersville had another chance to score on the ensuing corner kick, but Brunswick (2-2) was able to clear the cross out of the box. McGannon said Thursday’s win helps take away the sting from Tuesday’s 3-2 loss to Thomas Johnson. “This is a pretty young team,” Brunswick coach Shawn Baker said. “We’ve got a lot of sophomores playing up. We’re just really starting to put things together. We’ve made some young mistakes early on, but tonight it was good to see things come together.” Walkersville keeper Nick Reiser had four saves. “Brunswick came at us, like they should have,” Walkersville coach Phil Shortt said. “We weren’t up to par.” Walkersville won the junior varsity match 3-0.