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Pinecrest at Jack Britt Wednesday, September 18th, 2002 Jack Britt Stadium, Fayetteville, NC |
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(3-0-1) |
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(3-1-0) |
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Pinecrest at Jack Britt Wednesday, September 18th, 2002 Jack Britt Stadium, Fayetteville, NC |
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(3-0-1) |
2
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(3-1-0) |
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| The Pinecrest boys’ soccer team scored a goal in each half to carve out a 2-0 victory at Jack Britt Wednesday night. With the win, the Patriots took over first place from the Buccaneers in the Mid-Southeastern Conference. The visitors struggled against a defensive alignment that had the Buc sweeper laying 20 to 30 yards in back of the other defenders. The Patriots finally cracked it with a couple of crosses from the left side by junior Jonathan Gribben leading to goals by Joe Burger and Stephen Lacher. Jack Britt coach Ceba Jackson said that he altered his usual alignment for Pinecrest. “We went to a little different system for this game and thought it was going to payoff,” he said. “We suffered on offense a little bit with it, but when we face this caliber of a team, it was what we felt we had to do.” A minute into the match, Buc goalkeeper C. C. Clawson turned away Burger and Lacher with sparkling saves on back-to-back attempts from close range. The Patriots did not get another serious opportunity until less than two minutes remained in the half. Gribben lofted a ball across the goal to an all-alone Gabe Bruno. The junior passed it inside to Burger who left-footed it past Clawson with his first touch. Early in the second half, Bruno received a pass from Burger inside the penalty area and had two chances to beat Clawson. His first attempt was knocked down by the goalkeeper and his second flew over the goal. On the clinching goal, the Patriots finally made the Bucs pay for giving up so much ground defensively. Gribben shed a couple of defenders about 45 yards from the goal and cut inside. His diagonal cross on the ground found Lacher open, and onside, just five yards from the goal at the far post. He finished it easily with his left foot. “We composed ourselves and kept moving up and winning balls — and that’s why we scored,” Lacher said. “Jon and I hook up pretty well. He’s had a couple of assists on times I scored earlier in the season.” Martin said that the defensive approach of the Bucs along with the narrow width of the field caused his team some problems. “It’s a frustrating game when we play on a football-size field,” he said. “The guys recognized that we needed to bring the ball across the field and that worked effectively for us.” Things remain tight among the top four teams in the league following Wednesday’s matches. Pinecrest is 3-0-1 followed by Scotland County 2-0-2, Jack Britt 3-1 and Richmond County 2-1-1. The Scots and the Raiders played to a 1-1 overtime tie Wednesday. Pinecrest out shot Jack Britt 20-8. Jonathan Shute and Rashad Gatling split the shutout with Gatling recording the only Patriot save of the night. Clawson had 10 saves for the home team. The Patriot junior varsity team improved to 7-1 with a 6-0 victory. The Patriots play at home three times next week. Westover is here Monday and Seventy-First arrives Wednesday in conference matches. Lee County provided the opposition in a non-conference match on Thursday. <-Previous 9-16-02 vs Hoke County (W, 13-1) 9-23-02 vs Westover (W, 12-0) Next-> |