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Pinecrest vs Jack Britt Monday, October 18th, 2004 John Williams Field, Southern Pines, NC |
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(9-1-1) |
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(9-2-0) |
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Pinecrest vs Jack Britt Monday, October 18th, 2004 John Williams Field, Southern Pines, NC |
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(9-1-1) |
1
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0 |
(9-2-0) |
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| A header by Scott Phifer off a cross from G. R. Horton produced the only goal in a soccer match that put Pinecrest back in its accustomed spot atop the Mid-Southeastern Conference standings. The goal in the 23rd minute of the first half Monday night knocked visiting Jack Britt out of first place. The Patriots are 9-1-1 in the conference followed by Richmond County at 8-1-2 and the Buccaneers at 9-2. They can sew up their eighth consecutive league title by winning at Westover tonight (7 p.m.) and by taking matches at Seventy-First and at home against Douglas Byrd next week. After a match that saw the Patriots take 22 shots to four for their opponent, outside midfielder Joe Johnson was winded, but feeling good about avenging a 2-1 loss to the Bucs about a month ago. That ended a 52-game unbeaten streak in conference matches for the Patriots. “I was running hard,” the senior said, referring to a final 10 minutes of transition play that made things a little too interesting. “We knew we had the chance to meet them here and that we were the better team. We missed a couple of opportunities on shots, but we still played a good game.” Neither team took a shot in the match until Johnson launched one from the right side that found the side net in the 13th minute of the first half. That led to a period of sustained pressure on the Buc goal. Karl Ainslie, Omar Abusamra and Horton had chances before the latter beat several defenders working his way from the top of the Buc penalty circle to inside the box to the right of the goal. From there he lofted a ball across the goal to Phifer who headed it away from the goalkeeper and into the net. That was pretty much it from the excitement standpoint until both teams opened things up in the final 10 minutes of the match. With about eight minutes left, Travis Grasso unloaded a shot from the left that hit the top bar of the Buc goal. Teammate Marco Gironda got a foot on the rebound before Phifer struck one that hit the bar again and bounced straight down before being cleared away. Marcel Taylor and James Vangel got off shots for the Bucs before time ran out on the visitors. Patriot coach Larry Martin thought his team might have tried to do a little too much individually at times, leading to some Buc takeaways in the midfield. “When you’re trying to beat a sea of yellow,” he said, “you try stuff. You can’t be too critical of that. But at the same time, our standard operating procedure is to pass the ball. The speed of the ball is greater than the speed of the legs. The pass breaks them down. Most of the time we did that. “We’ll take a 1-0 win. You have to give Jack Britt credit. They kept scrapping — stopping attacks — dodging bullets.” Travis Frazier recorded three saves and picked off a number of Buc crosses as the Patriots improved to 12-3-2 overall. Michael White, Caleb Miles, Dalon White, Chris Coxen, Greg Pattis and Andy Tagliarini were among the defenders making it a relatively quiet night for the freshman goalkeeper. Jack Britt falls to 13-3-1 overall. In another Monday match involving a conference contender, Richmond and Scotland County played to a 2-2 overtime tie. In an attractive late schedule addition, the Patriots will entertain East Chapel Hill on Thursday, beginning with a junior varsity contest at 5 p.m. followed by the varsity at 7 p.m. The Wildcats are 12-0 in the Five County 3-A Conference and 13-5-2 overall. They will bring an 11-match winning streak to John Williams Field. Three of their losses and one of the ties were to teams currently ranked in the top 10 in either 3-A or 4-A. The Pinecrest junior varsity, 13-1 overall, completed an undefeated conference season (8-0) with a 7-1 victory over Jack Britt. Glen Holmes (two), Coby Kavanaugh, David Adams, Win Pratt, Ben Gartman and Brandon Zoellner were the goal scorers for the Pats. Contributing assists were Bradley McKeever (two), Holmes, Zoellner, Tyler Dawson, Chase Blake and Pratt. McKeever and Holmes shared the goalkeeping. <-Previous 10-15-04 vs. #7 Hoggard (L, 0-2) 10-20-04 at Westover (W, 14-0) Next-> |