A nonconference boys match Sept. 21 between Villa Angela-St. Joseph and visiting Cornerstone Christian materialized at the 11th hour. A match-winner on the day did not, however. VASJ’s Frank Oriani and Cornerstone’s Aaron Gaga traded first-half strikes as the Vikings and Patriots battled to a 1-1 draw. In a match featuring solid workrate from both sides but not a great deal of high-caliber end product, VASJ coach Miguel Cora and Cornerstone counterpart Kevin Keeper emerged pleased with a positive result. “Yeah, it was good,” Cora said. “I’ve got a lot of guys who are inexperienced, and we’re kind of trying to learn and trying to learn touch and trying to learn passing patterns, like I’ve always had in the past. So it’s a little complicated for them. So they’re just getting into the flow. The guys, I just need to get them more experience, and then they’ll be able to play my style a little bit better.” Added Keeper: “We played a great game. We fought to the end. Last year, we lost to them, 9-1. And we’re improving every single practice day and game, and I’m proud of these boys. “Keeping positive. Everybody has their back in every practice and every game. They want to improve. They’re hungry for wins.” The Vikings (2-5-1) opened their account in the 10th minute. Senior striker Momo Pelima did well to play a clever touch toward the end line and cross the edge of the six for Oriani, who snuck a tapper through to make it a 1-0 match. Joes 1-0 10th minDon't have a 3 on my roster – I'll yell at Miguel later pic.twitter.com/3vxGX9ySvA — Chris Lillstrung (@CLillstrungNH) September 21, 2024 “We’re always looking to try and slot (Pelima) and get the ball past that backline,” Cora said. “I keep him up there by himself and tell him, ‘Just keep moving up and down, look for the holes, look for the advantage, look to see what guy you can break down the best, and we’ll see what happens to get one in there for us.'” The Patriots (5-4-1), amid an 80 during which they produced six corners, capitalized on one to grab an equalizer. Sam Shaposka served a weighted ball into the middle of the box in the 16th minute, and Gaga slotted a header high to level the match, 1-1. As far as overly dangerous opportunities for either side, in truth that was about the extent of it. In fact, the sides combined for as many corners as shots on target with 10. Cora was encouraged with his side’s work in the defensive third, anchored by senior center back Shane Waganek. “The defense played really good,” Cora said. “They played together. They played as a group with a lot of talking. I’ve been really harping on their communication and making sure, because I’ve got two freshmen outside and they’re learning. The guys in the middle have all the experience, and they just need to keep talking, keep reassuring them and telling them when to go wide, when to keep the guys in, push them far, push them in. So they’re getting better and better every game.” Keeper has been mixing personnel around and got good attacking matches out of Lenny Curry and Carter Sims. Curry paces Cornerstone with five goals in 2024. “We’re mixing a little bit around,” Keeper said. “We had a lot more players than last year. We had 15 last year. We have 27 this year. We had a couple boys out today — (Nolan Tautges and Kolsen Keeper). But these guys hung with them. It was great.” Coming soon For more from this match, as Cora discusses being head coach for both the VASJ boys and girls sides in 2024, check back in the coming days on News-Herald.com and in our print edition.