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Pinecrest vs Hoggard Wednesday, September 6th, 2006 John Williams Field, Southern Pines, NC |
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Pinecrest vs Hoggard Wednesday, September 6th, 2006 John Williams Field, Southern Pines, NC |
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| Coming through with a late score, the Pinecrest boys' soccer team thrilled the home crowd with a 1-0 victory over visiting J.T. Hoggard High School of Wilmington. The late goal came off the head of Jordon Howlett with nine minutes left in the hard-fought contest. In the Patriots last home game, the score in a 1-0 win over 3-A power Rocky Mount came in the final seconds. Hoggard is a traditional soccer powerhouse from the Cape Fear region that has advanced deep into the state 4-A playoffs for many years. Pinecrest coach Larry Martin's team faced a stiff test from the fitness and skill of the Hoggard side that rotated 20 players, while the Patriots went with a sturdy group of a 14-player rotation. Pinecrest, now 3-1-0, has fallen out of the state top-15 rankings, but on a beautiful evening for soccer, a huge partisan crowd, estimated at 500, the Patriots made a strong case for being considered in the rankings. The Patriot fanatics cheered, jeered and chanted the night away in a demonstration of support for the home side. Many students came with bodies painted in Patriot green in a show of support for a Wednesday night match. The first half of play was mainly a midfield contest with few serious scoring threats, with the best chance coming from Patriot Russell Stewart's bomb from 25 yards out. The ball knuckled its way to the Hoggard keeper, who mishandled it into a corner kick. Glenn Holmes was the Pinecrest goalkeeper in the first half, and he easily handled the chances Hoggard would bring. Holmes also kept the opposition off-balance with his booming 75-yard goal kicks and free kicks that on many occasions jump-started the Pinecrest attack. In the second half, the game truly opened up with both teams making serious threats at the goal. Pinecrest had more of the chances, and appeared to have a goal at the 50-minute mark when junior Coby Kavanaugh gathered a loose ball in front of the Hoggard goal, tucking it past the keeper only to have an alert defender clear the shot as it was crossing the goal line. It was Kavanaugh's first go at striker this season, and he and partner Matt Sessoms would unsettle the Hoggard defense all night. In the crucial last 10 minutes, a cross by Russell Stewart from the near side with the imposing 6-footer Holmes, now playing forward, parked in front of the net, drawing defenders away from junior midfielder Howlett, who headed the bouncing ball into the back of the net. Bradley McKeever took over in goal for Pinecrest for the last 40 minutes, and handled the job of clearing the long balls played behind the Pinecrest defenders. A Hoggard shot from 25 yards out in the 75th minute just cleared the crossbar. It would be the visitors' last good chance for a score, as the Pinecrest defense anchored by the senior trio of Silas Cole, Charlie Davis and Jim Hobbs turned in an outstanding clean-sheet performance. The Pinecrest junior varsity also claimed a 1-0 win over Hoggard, with freshman Max Brenner doing the scoring on an assist from Aaron Stroker. Matt Scott would record the shutout in net. The Patriots have another challenging game on tap for tonight when East Chapel Hill, the state's 11th-ranked school, comes to town. The jayvees get the evening's doubleheader started at 5:30 p.m., with the varsity match slated to start at 7 p.m. <-Previous 8-30-06 at #1 Fayetteville Academy (L, 0-3) 9-8-06 vs #11 East Chapel Hill (W, 5-3) Next-> |