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Pinecrest at Richmond County Wednesday, September 11th, 2002 Raider Stadium, Rockingham, NC |
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(1-0-1) |
5
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(1-1-0) |
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Pinecrest at Richmond County Wednesday, September 11th, 2002 Raider Stadium, Rockingham, NC |
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(1-0-1) |
5
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1 |
(1-1-0) |
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| Sixty minutes into Wednesday night’s soccer game at Richmond County, it appeared Pinecrest might have another result like Monday’s frustrating 1-1 overtime tie with Scotland to ponder. But this time, the Patriots responded to a tying goal by the Raiders’ Marty Covington with four goals in the last 18 minutes to gain a 5-1 victory in Rockingham. Doug Andrews, an offensive defender, in a nice way, picked up assists on the first two Patriot goals. Joe Burger notched two goals and an assist and Scott Martin a goal and an assist. Goalkeeper Jonathan Shute and the other Patriot defenders kept the Raider offense at bay most of the night. In Monday’s match, Pinecrest squandered countless scoring opportunities and was held scoreless for the last 90 minutes. In spite of carrying the play to the Raiders, the drought continued until the 54th minute of Wednesday’s fray when a long throw-in by Andrews was headed high into the net by Burger. There had to be a sinking feeling in the Patriots’ stomachs seven minutes later when Covington finished a loose ball in front of the goal off of a Paco Lopez cross tying the game at 1-1. But it took the visitors just a minute to regain the lead. A 45-yard direct kick by Andrews from near the right sideline, glanced off a Richmond defender into the path of Jonathan Gribben who finished it near the far post. That opened the floodgates for Pinecrest, now 4-2-2 overall and 1-0-1 in the Mid-Southeastern Conference. “As soon as we got that second goal, I saw some heads come down,” Pinecrest coach Larry Martin said of the Raiders. “We used a lot of guys and I think that helped us. They ran out of legs.” Goal number three came in the 64th minute. A throw from the opposite side by Gribben was headed by Burger to Martin all alone in front of the Raider goal. His first attempt was stopped by goalkeeper Paul Brown, but he first-timed the rebound for a 3-1 Pinecrest lead. Martin returned the favor, crossing a ball to Burger for the fourth goal and Andrew Boulton got a touch on a long free kick by sweeper Matt Capasso to complete the scoring. Andrews, a senior, has been a factor offensively all season with the range of his crosses from the back. His three assists are second to Burger’s team-leading four. “I like playing the long balls because we seem to do pretty well with them,” he said. “I’ve been struggling with the crosses the last few games, but tonight we finally got one in and we got a goal off of it. “When we got the second goal, we got our confidence back. We started passing the ball with more confidence and knew we could outrun them and outplay them.” Martin hopes the late scoring burst will help his team’s confidence. “I’m glad we had this little flurry at the end because maybe that will get us out of the slump. Soccer is like all sports. You can get in a mindset where you aren’t believing in yourselves. “Tonight our best opportunities came on crosses. We’re getting quality crosses. Now we have to get quality finishes.” Pinecrest took 22 shots to eight for the home team. Shute recorded three saves, including one of the goal-saving variety in the first half. Richmond falls to 1-4 and 1-1 in the conference. The Pinecrest junior varsity improved to 5-1 with a 4-1 victory over the Raiders. The Patriots are back home on Monday with a 7 p.m. match against Hoke County. The Bucks do not have a junior varsity team. <-Previous 9-9-02 vs Scotland County (T, 1-1) 9-16-02 vs Hoke County (W, 13-1) Next-> |