Story By Jon Johnson
While there are plenty of kinks to work out, the Dothan United soccer team showed it has the potential to be a scoring machine as witnessed by a season-opening 15-0 win over LAX FC of Panama City at Rip Hewes Stadium on Saturday night.
Ryan Holmes, a returner from last year’s Southern Conference championship team in the United Soccer League Two, along with newcomer Dyson Clapier, each scored three goals as the Dragons dominated from start to finish in the non-league, exhibition match.
Dothan led 6-0 at halftime and then really turned it on in the second half with a flurry of goals in the first 10 minutes of the final 45.
“I think the first half was messy,” Dothan head coach Ricky Davey said. “The first 10 minutes of the second half were a lot better in terms of the tempo on how we were moving the ball.
“I think you saw balls into the striker a little bit more, some sets, some combinations. So, probably the happiest I was, was from 45 minutes to 55 minutes (in the second half).”
It was the debut of Davey in taking over the role vacated by Carl Reynolds, who resigned in January after being hired as the associate head men’s soccer coach at Liberty University and is now also the head coach of Asheville (N.C.) in the USL2.
Reynolds led the Dragons during their first two years of a franchise, which included the team reaching the USL2 national semifinals a year ago.
Davey was welcomed by a nice gathering of fans in attendance for the exhibition.
“You stop cheering a little bit when 8, 9 or 10 go in,” Davey said of the rout. “But the crowd was amazing. Circle City Inferno (official support group) were amazing … and these guys feed off that.
“I looked at Connor (McGoldrick), my assistant on the bench, and said, ‘Alec (Palanjian) is still running in minute 88 like he was running in minute eight.’ A lot of that comes from the crowd and hearing them. They’re the ones that were driving the boys and we will need them all year.”
Dothan United president Steve Donner was happy with what he saw in the opener.
“It’s really a soft opening for new staff members and new players to get the kinks out,” Donner said. “Really impressed with some of our new guys. The recruiting job Ricky has done to put us back in a very competitive position is amazing.”
Dothan had six shots on goal in the first six minutes before Holmes scored the first tally of the season at the 10:10 mark off an assist from Rodrigo Lopes.
That type of aggressive play on offense is what Davey expects from his team.
“We want to score goals, we want to create chances, we want to play in the opposition’s half,” Davey said. “We didn’t work a ton on finishing this past week … it was more so the build up, playing through midfield and kind of creating chances.
“I was really impressed with the physicality. I thought we won the ball back really well at times. The times that we did give the ball away, the reactions to win it back … that’s been a big piece of this week.”
Newcomer Tiago Campos made it 2-0 on a kick from about 15 yards out 14:03 into the game when his shot hit off the bottom of the goal post and rattled into the net. Clapier scored the first of his three goals on an assist by Palanjian, the former Northview star, at the 27:25 mark of the half.
Lopes scored on a header to make it 4-0, Holmes put one in with a booming shot from 15 yards out and Josh Hallenberger won a ball and came in strong on goal to make it 6-0 at the break.
Holmes scored his third goal early in the second half, followed by a Lopes score, one by Palanjian on a sharp, low kick to make it 9-0, and the second Clapier goal at the 60:30 mark made it 10-0.
Tito Porter scored on a header for an 11-0 advantage, Clapier scored an easy one when he got around the goalkeeper who came far out of the net, and Dominic Kienzle made it 13-0 with a shot off a rebound.
Porter with a header for a score off an assist from Dakota Henry and another goal by Kienzle ended the scoring.
Fan favorite Yago Darub started in goal and didn’t face a shot as the Dragons’ defense played steady throughout.
Clapier enjoyed his first appearance in a Dragons uniform.
“This was my first game, so I got a little taste of the atmosphere,” Clapier said. “It was great linking up with my teammates and I think we put on a good show for the first game. I think the chemistry is only going to build from here.”
Holmes was glad to be back within the friendly confines of Rip Hewes Stadium for another season.
“We’re always thankful for the people who come out and support us,” Holmes said. “The people make the place. I love being back here.
“We’re finding ways to mold as a team, and today just helped that. We’re building that trust and more goals will go in.”
Everyone on roster entered the game, including former Dothan standouts Ty Powell (defender) and Blake Rouse (goalkeeper) and ex-Enterprise star Diego Sammur (midfielder).
While happy with the lopsided win, Davey knows there’s much work to be done in the coming weeks.
“I thought Josh Hallenberger was really good tonight and got through 90 minutes,” Davey said. “I thought the relationship between Dyson and Alec on that left-hand side was really evident with Dyson coming inside and Alec getting around him a lot.”
“I think the biggest thing was getting the guys together and start to build those relationships. I think there is a lot to work on in terms of the whole team structure, but I think some individual partnerships and relationships were OK. We’ve got a lot to work on, but for night one, pretty good.”
Dothan has another tune-up exhibition match against Fort Rucker FC next Saturday night before the regular-season league opener at home against Montgomery United FC on May 16.
More players will be added to the roster in the coming days.
“I think by the time Fort Rucker rolls around, apart from one, we’ll be pretty much at full strength,” Davey said. “This group has been amazing that every time a few new players have rolled in, it’s been instant chemistry within the group. We have some things to work out, but in terms of their togetherness, I think we were there tonight.
