 |
Pinecrest at Richmond County Monday, April 14th, 2003 Raider Stadium, Rockingham, NC |
 |
||||
|
(7-0-0) |
3
|
0 |
(4-2-1) |
|||
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
Pinecrest at Richmond County Monday, April 14th, 2003 Raider Stadium, Rockingham, NC |
|
||||
|
(7-0-0) |
3
|
0 |
(4-2-1) |
|||
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
| There was little suspense in Pinecrest’s 3-0 Mid-Southeastern Conference girls’ soccer victory at Richmond County Monday night. The Raiders came into the match trailing the first place Patriots by just a game and a-half. But the visitors set up a defensive perimeter near midfield that was rarely penetrated. Katie Fields scored her 10th and 11th goals of the season and Sara Cole marked one as the Patriots controlled the ball for much of the contest. Defender Lora Smith led the scuttling of the Raider attack. It was the 10th shutout in a row by the Patriots, now 11-1-1 overall and 7-0 in the conference, over the Raiders going back to 1999. Richmond fell to 7-2-2 and 4-2-1. Following a series of unsuccessful attempts to take the ball through the home team’s strong central defense, the Patriots got on the board by attacking horizontally. In the 13th minute, center midfielder Stephanie Carter drifted into the right flank to receive a pass from the middle and lofted the ball in front of the goal. Fields brought it to the ground with her first touch and blasted it high into the net with her second. Ten minutes later, Erin Cooper sent a ball toward the goal from about the same place that was muffed by freshman goalkeeper Jordan Jernigan, and Cole was there to finish it for a 2-0 Patriot lead. At no time did the Raiders give any hint of a comeback. Smith, a sophomore, allowed Emily Escola, one of the league’s top playmakers and scorers, few opportunities to generate an attack. “Emily has scored eight goals and Brittney Robich has seven for us,” said Raider coach Bennie Howard. “Any team that plays me knows that if they can mark up Emily and Brittney, they’ve got the game pretty much intact.” Smith normally occupies one of the outside marking positions with Allison Auman on the other side and Krystal Haas (stopper) and Heather Barnes (sweeper) in the middle. She possesses one of the area’s longest throw-ins, and late in the game carried the ball into the Raiders’ third and made a deft outside of the foot pass inside that was almost turned into a goal. “She’s been solid the whole year,” Pinecrest coach Lorna Martin said after the game. “She’s in the right place at the right time, all the time. Her throw-ins are amazing.” After the game, Smith talked about facing Escola, a good one-on-one player. “I tried to stay goalside and go with her wherever she went,” Smith said. “And stay close to her so she doesn’t get a chance to turn. If she wasn’t nearby, I had to make sure somebody else got her.” One of the developing weapons of this year’s squad is the ability of the team’s defenders to join the attack. “She’s encouraging us to build from the back and to not be afraid to move up field,” Smith said of her coach. The Patriots completed the scoring with a goal in the 62nd minute. Cole slipped a pass inside to Fields about 15 yards in front of the goal. The freshman beat a couple of defenders in traffic before finishing it. Pinecrest finished with 22 shots to none for Richmond. It was the first time Richmond had given up as many as three goals this season. Goalkeeper Katelyn Burwell was in the net for the team’s eighth shutout of the season. Jernigan had 11 saves for the Raiders in her first varsity start. Tonight, the Patriots play a 7 p.m. league match at Hoke County. <-Previous 4-9-03 at Scotland County (W, 6-1) 4-16-03 at Hoke County (W, 9-0) Next-> |