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Pinecrest vs Richmond County Wednesday, September 17th, 2003 John Williams Field, Southern Pines, NC |
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(2-0-0) |
4
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(1-1-0) |
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Pinecrest vs Richmond County Wednesday, September 17th, 2003 John Williams Field, Southern Pines, NC |
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(2-0-0) |
4
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0 |
(1-1-0) |
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| From an hour before the game and through the end of Wednesday night's 4-0 home soccer victory over Richmond County, Pinecrest coach Larry Martin was strangely missing his trademark game face and demeanor. A pair of goals by Dustin Burns and one apiece by Ivan Andrade and Michael White, combined with strong play by the entire Patriot squad, made it a pleasant aftermath in the wake of Hurricane Isabel's anticipated arrival. "At this point of the season, I felt the kids needed to relax more," the coach said. "I think how I act transmits to them. So I told them I didn't have a whole lot to say here. I just want you to be smart and don't make mistakes on defense. "We're hungry and we're aggressive, but I think it's time to put on the pressure and still have fun at the same time." The win moved the Patriots to 2-0 in the Mid-Southeastern and 4-5-2 overall. Richmond fell to 1-1 and 2-3. Against a Raider defense that compacted itself well in the first half to deny the Patriots space to operate, the energetic Burns got his team on the board in the 13th minute. Teammate Mike Hinerth won a ball in a scramble in front of the Raider goal and slipped a pass to the senior who put it in the net." In the 35th minute, Ivan Andrade collected a pass about 40 yards away from the Raider goal, beat a couple of defenders and the goalkeeper with a shot on the ground inside the right post making it 2-0. The exchange student from Latacunda, Equador, who has not seen a great deal of playing time, celebrated by running to the sidelines and into the arms of his coach. "I was really happy for him," Martin said. "That was something he really needed. he's a good little player and he's going to score more goals. He was so pumped up, gosh, was he pumped up." Andrade, who took three other shots and nearly picked up an assist on a clever pass to teammmate Gabe Bruno, that ended in a shot over the goal, said that he would be calling home and telling his family about the game. "My father played professional soccer in Equador," he said. "For me soccer is very, very mportant. Some days I'm very sad because I don't play. But tonight the coach gives me the opportunity and I play hard and I score. When I tell my family, they will be very happy." After the intermission, a Richmond team that managed only one shot in the first half, a direct kick from about 40 yards away, showed signs of wearing down. Playing up front, the Patriots 6-foot-3 Jonathan Gribben got off three shots over a five-minute period before assisting on the second goal by Burns. The scoring sequence in the 51st minute began with David Jannone passing inside to Gribben in front of the Raider goal. His attempt at a shot was smothered, but the ball trickled to Burns to the left of the goal and he put it away for a 3-0 lead. Gribben picked up another assist in the 78th minute when defender Michael White came forward to take his pass and put one inside the far post from about 25 yards away. Splitting the time between his normal outside midfield position and at striker, Burns displayed an extra bounce in his step while helping the Patriots take control of the match. "I was really pumped for this game," he said. "It's a conference game, and we needed the game really bad. So we went pretty hard." Pinecrest took 30 shots in the match, half of them on goal, to four shots for the visitors, one on goal. Jonathan Shute and Rashad Gatling took care of the goalkeeping in the team's fourth shutout win of the season. The only save came when Gatling got caught off his line by a lofted shot from the Raiders' Paco Lopez and had to flick it over the goal. Monday, Pinecrest travels to Hoke County for a junior varsity match at 5:30 p.m., followed by the varsity at 7 p.m. The Patriot jayvee squad improved to 8-2-1 with a 6-0 victory over Richmond. The goals were scored by Tommy Ransdell (three), Marco Gironda, Joran Hansley and Scott Phifer. Recording assists were Gironda (two), Andy Taglierini and Guion Pratt. <-Previous 9-15-03 at Scotland County (W, 1-0) 9-22-03 at Hoke County (W, 3-0) Next-> |