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Pinecrest at Scotland County Wednesday, October 6th, 2004 Pate Stadium, Laurinburg, NC |
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(6-1-1) |
5
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0 |
(3-4-0) |
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Pinecrest at Scotland County Wednesday, October 6th, 2004 Pate Stadium, Laurinburg, NC |
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(6-1-1) |
5
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0 |
(3-4-0) |
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| By this time in October, the Pinecrest boys’ soccer team is usually contemplating the state playoffs, not looking up at a couple of teams in the Mid-Southeastern Conference standings. Wednesday evening in Laurinburg, the Patriots opened the second half of conference play with a 5-0 victory over Scotland County. Scott Phifer and Travis Grasso led the way with a pair of goals each. With the win, the Patriots are 6-1-1 in the league, one game behind first-place Richmond County (7-0-1) and a half game behind Jack Britt (7-1-0). The race was tightened on Monday when a goal by Paco Lopez in the second overtime gave Richmond a 1-0 victory over Jack Britt. On the next two Mondays at 7 p.m., the Patriots entertain the Raiders, then the Buccaneers with a chance to get back on top. In the first meetings, they tied at Richmond in overtime and were defeated 2-1 at Jack Britt. Patriot coach Larry Martin looks at Monday’s rematch with the Raiders as a great opportunity. “I don’t want to lose games to make it interesting,” he said referring to the tie and the loss. “But the fact that we did makes it fun. That’s what it’s all about. We’re glad to play Richmond at our place and we’re glad it means something.” Phifer kicked the ball into the net off a defender in the fourth minute to get the Patriots off to a quick start against the Scots. It stayed that way until the 10th minute of the second half when the senior connected again, this time off a near-side cross from the left by Grasso making it 2-0. Crosses were the pre-game prescription for success on the narrow field against the defensive-minded Scots. “I told the players that they (Scots) are always going to come at you hard defensively,” Martin said. “Since there’s not a lot of width to take advantage of, you’ve got to move the ball outside. Trying to make through passes through a wall of red doesn’t work. I think most of the stuff that was created came from the outside.” On a night that Grasso and Joe Johnson repeatedly delivered balls from the left and right wings, left-side defender Andy Tagliarini lofted a ball almost the width of the field to Johnson on the right. The senior took on the lone defender and beat him and the goalkeeper with a low shot that found the inside of the far post, making it 3-0 in the 57th minute. The final two goals came within a minute of each other just past the midway mark of the second half. On both, Grasso attacked and scored from the left after receiving passes from Omar Abusamra. Martin said that the defensive work by Tagliarini and Chris Coxen on the outside helped keep in check the most dangerous of the Scot attackers. Teammate Michael White, playing in the center midfield most of the match, attacked and defended all over the field. The Scots, now 3-4 in the conference and 3-8 overall, took only three shots during the game to 29 for the visitors. Travis Frazier stopped two shots in the process of posting the shutout for the Patriots, now 9-2-2 overall. “We have a lot of solid defenders,” he said. “I thought tonight was one of our better games. I thought we were sharp in terms of our passes. We didn’t get frustrated and in the second half we started finishing some of those things.” In addition to the Monday specials, a busy next 10 days includes a conference match at Hoke County on Wednesday (Oct. 13) and an attractive non-conference encounter at home on Friday (Oct. 15) against Wilmington Hoggard. The versatile Phifer, who split his time between forward and defender against the Scots, said that Richmond’s win over Jack Britt gives the team the hope of another conference title. The Patriots are looking for their eighth straight. “I hope we get a lot of support from our fans on Monday,” he said. The Patriot junior varsity improved to 10-0 with a 6-0 victory over Scotland. Coby Kavanaugh (three), Matt Sessoms, David Adams and Karl Ainslie were the goal scorers. Kavanaugh (two), Win Pratt (two) and Jim Hobbs contributed assists. Goalkeeper Glen Holmes received credit for the shutout. Monday’s jayvee match against Richmond begins at 5:30 p.m. <-Previous 10-5-04 vs. Westover, (W 14-0) 10-11-04 vs. Richmond County (W, 2-0) Next-> |