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#11 Pinecrest vs #3 Hoggard Friday, March 9th, 2007 John Williams Field, Southern Pines, NC |
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#11 Pinecrest vs #3 Hoggard Friday, March 9th, 2007 John Williams Field, Southern Pines, NC |
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| Pinecrest and Wilmington Hoggard played to a 1-1 tie Friday night in a rematch between two teams that met in the fourth round of the 2006 state 4-A playoffs. In the game played at John Williams Field, a first-half goal by the Patriots' Amber Fernandez was neutralized by a Hoggard score that came with about 16 minutes left in the game. The Patriots will take a record of 2-0-1 into Monday's 7 p.m. Mid-Southeastern Conference match, also at home, against Scotland County. "We knew Pinecrest had a lot of girls back from the playoff team that came down to our place," said Hoggard coach John Teller, who graduated 10 seniors from the squad that lost to Broughton in a state semifinal contest. "We knew they'd be athletic and a good challenge." Fernandez is a newcomer to the Pinecrest soccer program this year. In the 18th minute, the junior set up for a direct kick on the left side of the field and drove the ball high into the Viking net from about 25 yards away. "That wasn't luck," said Patriot coach Larry Martin, who watched her connect from about the same distance in a preseason scrimmage. The home team had an opportunity to tack on another goal about three minutes later when Latanya Cain was fouled just in front of the penalty area. But this time the free kick by Fernandez was blocked by the Viking wall. The Patriot backline of Kristen Capasso, Sarah White, Caitlin McArdle and Marissa Dotson helped stifle the over-the-top attack of the Vikings by forcing numerous offside violations. In the final minute of the half, the Patriots made two strong bids to score. First, Cain carried the ball through traffic for about 30 yards before being dispossessed in the Viking penalty area. Seconds after the ball was cleared, the Pats' Lyndsey Anderson attacked down the left side before launching a cross that just missed connecting with teammate Molly Lynch at the far post. Hoggard (2-0-2) came into this week ranked third in the state 4-A poll while Pinecrest was ranked 11th. The Viking goal followed an attempted clearance by one of the Patriot defenders that struck a teammate. The ball rolled loose in the Patriot penalty area before the Vikings' Annie Haywood put it away for the equalizer. The Patriots had one last chance to pull it out in the final minute, but the Viking goalkeeper was able to collect a long through ball just before Lynch could reach it. Martin was pleased with his squad's quickness to the ball throughout the match. "Every time the ball went to them," he said, "we were pressuring hard. We've worked hard on that and I think it paid off." <-Previous 3-7-07 at Douglas Byrd (W, 15-0) 3-12-07 vs Scotland County (W, 4-2) Next-> |