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#9 Pinecrest vs Richmond County Monday, April 19th, 2004 John Williams Field, Southern Pines, NC |
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(9-0-0) |
8
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(7-2-0) |
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#9 Pinecrest vs Richmond County Monday, April 19th, 2004 John Williams Field, Southern Pines, NC |
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(9-0-0) |
8
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0 |
(7-2-0) |
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| Richmond County came into Monday’s girls’ soccer match at Pinecrest with a 7-1 record, perched just one game behind the league-leading Patriots. But this is the Mid-Southeastern Conference where the Patriots will try to extend their league unbeaten streak to 40 games when they entertain Hoke County tonight at 7 p.m. The state’s ninth-ranked 4-A team had no trouble dismantling the Raiders, scoring six times in the second half on the way to an 8-0 victory. Lauren Broderick picked up a pair of goals and a pair of assists. Megan Cole also scored twice for the Pats. The only Raider shot of the night came in the first half. Junior midfielder Sara Cole, who scored one of the goals, was asked whether the weak competition from league teams was a concern with the state playoffs looming in about three weeks. The Patriots, now 9-0 in the conference and 14-0 overall, have outscored league foes 76-1. “I’m disappointed our conference isn’t tougher,” she said, “because when we get to the playoffs, it’s whoa, these guys are good and we’re not used to that. We have to make up for it with hard practices. The coaches (head coach Lorna Martin and assistant coach Hector Cuevas) push us to the limit.” Playing their first match in 12 days because of spring break, there was little drop in efficiency no matter which combination of the Patriots’ 24 players were on the field. Still, the Raiders kept the Pats out of their goal until Malorie Potts first-timed an Ann Field’s cross into the net in the 20th minute. Just before the intermission, Megan Cole received a similar ball from Broderick and delivered the second goal. Possibly because of the long layoff, first touches by the Patriots weren’t sharp, especially in the first half. But Broderick made it 3-0 with a 28-yard laser shot with her left foot in the 46th minute. A Maggie Gartman feed inside to Stephanie Carter produced the goal that made it 4-0 at the midway point of the half. The Patriots struck four more times against the tiring Raiders before it was over with Broderick, Sara Cole, Megan Cole and Anne Brannon finding the net. Cuevas, a member of the military at Fort Bragg, is a first-year assistant coach at Pinecrest. He says that keeping the team’s skill level up while playing weak competition is a challenge. “When we start getting into the second and third rounds of the playoffs, there is going to be a lot more pressure on the midfielders and forwards,” he said. “Tomorrow we’re going to train all day with just two touches. The challenge for us is to get them in that mindset during training because we can’t do it in games.” He says that fortunately this is a team that isn’t difficult to motivate to work hard in practice. “That’s probably one of the greatest things about this team,” the coach said. “These girls have a great time together, but at the same time, in training it’s intense. We have players that could be starting on a lot of other teams and they’re looking for the starting time. We play a lot of five on five in practice and it’s going at it and going at it.” Presiding in the net for the Patriots in their 11th shutout victory of the season was Katelyn Burwell. With the loss, Richmond fell to 7-2 in the league and 10-5 overall. Tonight’s varsity match will be preceded by a jayvee contest beginning at 5:30 p.m. Going into last week, Raleigh Broughton and Greensboro Grimsley were ranked first and seventh, respectively, in the National Soccer Coaches Association/Adidas national poll. A number of members of the Patriots traveled to Raleigh and watched Southeast Raleigh upset Broughton shortly after the rankings came out. <-Previous 4-7-04 vs Scotland County (W, 4-0) 4-21-04 vs Hoke County (W, 6-2) Next-> |