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Pinecrest vs Union Pines Saturday, October 8th, 2005 John Williams Field, Southern Pines, NC |
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Pinecrest vs Union Pines Saturday, October 8th, 2005 John Williams Field, Southern Pines, NC |
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| A celebration of boys’ soccer in Moore County ended with Pinecrest turning away a Union Pines team on the rise 2-0 on Saturday night at John Williams Field. In the first meeting of the teams since 2000, the Patriots outplayed the Vikings most of the way, but the result was in doubt until Travis Grasso scored the second goal with just over four minutes left in the match. Even though the site was changed from Union Pines to Pinecrest late on Friday, almost 500 fans were on hand to enjoy a dizzying display of end-to-end action. “It was awesome,” Patriot defender Charlie Davis said afterward. “It was great to have a game like this.” Russell Stewart scored the first goal in the 17th minute off a cross from Grasso. The Patriots, 11-3-1 are unbeaten in their last 11 contests. The Vikings dropped to 11-2-1 with their first loss in seven matches. “The kids behaved themselves and played hard,” Patriot coach Larry Martin said, “so it was a fun night. It was a competitive match. I was real proud of our guys. I thought they stayed focused the whole game on what they needed to do.” The two teams played on even terms for the first 15 minutes as Viking coach Chris Hadlock’s squad succeeded in avoiding playing balls into the “Bermuda Triangle.” “I wanted to stay away from the Michael White Triangle, the Bermuda Triangle, in the middle,” he said, referring to the star midfielder of the Patriots. “He owns the middle, and you just have to kind of accept that. What we didn’t want to do was play balls into his space.” With Viking goalkeeper Travis Frazier and middle defender Casey Wylie playing balls over the top, White’s touches were limited in the early going. Two of the best early-scoring opportunities came off of long direct kicks by Frazier that resulted in corner kicks for the Vikings’ Carson McLean. “There were a bunch of balls played over the top,” Davis said. “It was more of a counter-attacking game, rather than building the offense. We expected that.” But the Patriot midfield began getting into the act just before the Stewart goal. The scoring sequence began with a throw-in from the left side of the field by Tommy Ransdell. Grasso needed several touches to find some space before launching a cross that was controlled by Stewart on the far side of the Viking penalty area. The junior sent a shot high into the net out of the reach of Frazier. Moments later Ransdell turned on another Grasso cross in front of the goal, but Viking defender Bryan Hayes made a foot save. In the 26th minute, Frazier went airborne to flick a Grasso shot off a cross by Coby Kavanaugh over the bar. In the 31st minute a brilliant transition goal by G.R. Horton was waived off by a Patriot foul. Grasso explained why he thought it took awhile for the Patriots to find an offensive rhythm. “We were a little shaky at first because we were just so anxious to go out against Union Pines and have a good game,” he said. “But as the game progressed, I think we calmed down. That’s when we started creating more opportunities and shutting them down.” One of the indications of the intensity of the contest was the number of whistles blown for physical play on both sides. In the fifth minute of the second half, Ransdell chipped a ball to Matt Sessoms, who was fouled by Frazier at the edge of the penalty box as his header went wide. About two minutes later, the Vikings’ Dalton Hadlock, who came into the match with 17 goals and 14 assists, broke loose on the left side and released a shot from about 20 yards away that was high. That was the only Viking shot of the half, although later Patriot goalkeeper Glen Holmes had an anxious moment on a through ball he collected in a race with Hadlock. The clinching goal came off a cross from Horton on the right side of the Viking penalty area. Grasso’s first-touch shot was pushed away, but he converted the rebound. The Patriots finished with 25 shots to eight for the visitors, including a 16-2 edge in the second half. “I really did think we were a little stronger in the second half,” Martin said. “A lot of our guys are naturally fit kids that can run and run and part of it is that we work hard — not that the other team doesn’t. But that’s our style — in the second half, we’re usually stronger. “I thought a bright spot for us was our team defense, not just the guys in the back, but everybody. When we lost the ball, we fought hard to win it back and that limited their opportunities. At no point did I feel threatened by them (Vikings) whatsoever.” The progress of the Union Pines program in four years under Chris Hadlock made this a much anticipated affair. The Vikings are currently battling for the top spot in the Cape Fear Valley Conference. All but two of their starters are underclassmen, making for interesting rivalry games between the teams for years to come. “They definitely took us out of our game as hard as they play,” the Viking coach said. “We knew that coming in. I thought we had chances, but obviously not as many as they did. They’re a lot deeper than we are. I’m looking forward to next year.” Matt Carriker scored the only goal as the Patriots defeated the Vikings 1-0 in the junior varsity game. <-Previous 10-5-05 vs Scotland County (W, 6-0) 10-12-05 vs Hoke County (W, 5-0) Next-> |