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Pinecrest vs Richmond County Monday, October 7th, 2002 John Williams Field, Southern Pines, NC |
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(8-0-1) |
4
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2 |
(6-2-1) |
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Pinecrest vs Richmond County Monday, October 7th, 2002 John Williams Field, Southern Pines, NC |
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(8-0-1) |
4
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2 |
(6-2-1) |
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| The Pinecrest High School boys’ soccer team strengthened its grip on another Mid-Southeastern Conference title with a 4-2 victory over Richmond County Monday night. The Patriots, 12-2-2 overall and 8-0-1 in the Mid-Southeastern Conference, extended their league unbeaten streak to 30 games with the home win. They broke an early second half 1-1 tie with three unanswered goals while playing a man down. Senior Joe Burger scored three times for his third hat trick of the season. In the first minute of the second half, Pinecrest goalkeeper Rashad Gatling was caught off his line and sweeper Matt Capasso used his hands in a desperate attempt to keep a Raider shot out of the goal. The senior got the automatic red card and the Raider’s Marty Covington tied the match at 1-1 with the penalty kick. Patriot coach Larry Martin juggled his lineup and substituted freely as his team went on to play some of its best soccer of the season in the half against a team that could have tied them for first place with a win. “I told the guys afterward that we might not only have the best team in the conference, but also the second best team in the conference,” Martin said. “We have a whole lot of guys with equal ability and it’s hard for them to sit on the bench. So it was nice to not only tell them, ‘I’m putting you in the game, but we need you to perform’, and they did.” With Richmond playing much better than in an earlier 5-1 loss to the Patriots, junior midfielder Neil Perez let his coach know he was willing to take over for Capasso, the team’s leader on defense. “I was nervous as heck because I had no plans of playing sweeper, but we brought in another stopper and played more defensively,” Perez said. “I think we passed more being a man down and that opened us up for goals.” Said Martin, “I had a moment of what am I going to do in terms of personnel. But as soon as he (Perez) said, ‘do you want me to play sweeper,’ that sealed it for me. I wanted somebody back there who wanted to be back there. I knew he had the speed and ability to do the job.” While the Patriot defenders were doing their part, Burger made a lot of the noise on the field on “Annoying Noisemaker Night.” Midway through the first half, he linked up with Stephen Lacher and Jonathan Gribben to beat goalkeeper Paul Brown for the 1-0 lead. Ten minutes into the second half, right back Michael White put a long cross on his head at the far post and he muscled it past Brown to put his team back in front 2-1. Eric Hayworth made it 3-1 when he came forward from his defensive stopper position and chipped a ball over the goalkeeper with his left foot. Another Burger header, this time from Brad Shinn, completed the Patriot scoring. Tim Boyd, on an assist from Covington, scored for the Raiders with four minutes to play. The Raiders, 7-5-1 overall and 6-2-1 in the conference, missed some other open goal opportunities in both halves. “When you play a team like Pinecrest, you are not going to get many opportunities, and when you do, you have to put the ball in the net,” Richmond coach Bennie Howard said. “Pinecrest has the program everyone in the conference wants. We try and try and try, but we keep falling short. It gets discouraging after a while.” The Annoying Noisemaker Night sponsored by Pinecrest soccer supporters attracted an array of drums, sirens, whistles, megaphones and pots and pans. The Patriot junior varsity defeated Richmond 3-0 behind two goals by Jordan Hansley and one by Travis Grasso to improve to 10-2 overall and 7-0 in the league. Tonight the team travels to Hoke County for 5:30 p.m. junior varsity and 7 p.m. varsity contests. In the top-heavy conference, Scotland County (6-1-2) beat Douglas Byrd 5-1 and Jack Britt (6-3) defeated Seventy-First 5-0. <-Previous 10-2-02 at Scotland County (W, 2-1) 10-9-02 at Hoke County (W, 15-0) Next-> |