The Van Vandals gave the Mineola soccer side a bit of a thrashing Friday, sending them home with a 5-1 defeat. Van chalked up four goals in the first 17 minutes of play which shaped the remainder of the game.

Van used physical, aggressive play in the midfield to dominate the first half. While the Yellowjacket side took an extra second to look up before passing the ball, the Vandals used that extra second to shut down Mineola possession in the midfield.

Once in possession the Vandals surged into the offensive zone directly between the hash marks. They tended to attack from directly in front of goal and use the wings to prowl for rebounds. In the first half of play, it worked. 

The Van scores came in the first, 7th, 14th and 17th minutes. The first and third goals were rebounds slapped back into the net. The fourth goal came when a loose ball in the box got entangled in the legs of one attacker and two defenders. It fell conveniently to the attacker who finished. The only pure score was a strike from 25 meters which was drilled into an upper corner.

The Jackets could muster only six legitimate attacks in that first half. This included one corner and the best opportunity of the opening half – a long pass ahead in the 36th minute. 

Mineola regrouped at the half. They shifted a striker back to the midfield to give the midfield a bit more quickness when play resumed. 

The Yellowjackets evened the aggressiveness and pace of play in the second half. In the first four minutes of action, Mineola had staged four attacks. 

Omar Galaz took a short-corner pass, maneuvered to open a look at goal and struck a sizzling shot into the upper netting to make the score 4-1 early in the half.

Following the Mineola score, the game turned into a bit of a grind. Van was happy to just churn away the time, and Mineola continued to attack. 

The Jackets earned two more corners and had two nice combination attacks – including a beauty of a sequence from Joshua Vigueras to Riley Weekly to Jairo Mata – but no more Jacket goals were forthcoming.

Vigueras and teammate Fernal Ventura had noteworthy nights for their work rate. 

Van added a fifth goal late after having turned the left flank and causing some confused action directly in front of goal. 

After hosting Bullard on Tuesday, the Jackets are back in action Friday night at Cumberland.