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#10 Pinecrest vs Scotland County Monday, March 12th, 2007 John Williams Field, Southern Pines, NC |
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(2-0-0) |
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#10 Pinecrest vs Scotland County Monday, March 12th, 2007 John Williams Field, Southern Pines, NC |
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(2-0-0) |
4
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2 |
(0-1-0) |
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| Seven minutes into Monday's girls' soccer match at Pinecrest, a hand ball was called on one of the Patriot defenders in the penalty area. Scotland's Megan Brigman converted the penalty kick, putting the visitors in front 1-0 in the Mid-Southeastern Conference opener for both teams. The last time the Pinecrest girls lost a conference game was five years ago, almost to the day (March 11, 2002). Scotland was a 1-0 victor then on an own goal. There was a long way to go in this one, but until well into the second half, the Patriots' 71-match winning streak in conference play was on the line. "That didn't go through my mind," Patriot defender Marissa Dotson said afterward, "but if I had known that, it sure would have -- because that's a lot of pressure to put on us." The Patriots tied the match with 1:47 left in the first half after a brilliant 35-yard dash through Scot defenders by Latanya Cain. The junior ended up with a hat trick in the eventual 4-2 Patriot victory. Even though the Patriots had taken 23 shots to only two by their opponent, the two teams were still tied when, after a throw-in, Molly Lynch took possession of the ball in the 57th minute near the end line to the left of the Scot goal. The senior forward lofted it over the head of the Scot goalkeeper to the closing Kristen Anderson, who headed it into the net at the far post. That was the start of a flurry of three goals within a period of four minutes. Two minutes later, Brigman, who scored 35 goals last year for the Scots as a freshman, jumped on a ball that was mistakenly sent across the middle by one of the Patriot defenders. A couple touches later, she kicked the ball across the goal mouth and into the net past goalkeeper Morgan Saunders, making it 2-2. Challenged again, Cain thought the team responded well. "At 2-2," she said, "we understood we had something to do. In order to win the game, we just had to play with our hearts, and that's what we did." No more than another two minutes had elapsed when Cain put the Patriots back in front after about a 20-yard jaunt through congestion. In the 68th minute, she collected a loose ball just above the Scot penalty area and stuck it inside the left post to complete the scoring. "We couldn't stop her," Scot coach Colin McDavid said. "She's fast, she's strong and she's skillful. She's just at another level. "I'm proud of my girls. We've been banged up for awhile. I thought we played well against a state-ranked team. They showed why they are (ranked)." Patriot coach Larry Martin thought his team, now 3-0-1, played with a lot more confidence and patience in the second half. "There was that one miscommunication that led to a goal," he said, "but we actually played pretty good defense." Five of the Scots, including Brigman, are teammates of a number of the Patriot players on the Sandhills Force Classic team. "She's a great forward," Dotson said of Brigman. "As defenders, we were trying to look out for her wherever she was because she cuts across the field."> The loss dropped Scotland to 2-1. Pinecrest, ranked 10th in this week's 4-A poll, has another conference date at Richmond County tonight at 7 p.m. For the history buffs, two days after the Patriots lost to Scotland in 2002, they played to a scoreless tie against Richmond before starting the long winning streak with a 9-0 victory over Hoke County. In the opening game of the evening, the Pinecrest junior varsity team improved to 2-0 with a 9-0 victory over the Scots. The Patriot goal scorers were Hailey Ciccolanti (two), Jill McIlwain (two), Sienna Shute (two), Bailey Pages, Mary Barkley and Kayla Herm. <-Previous 3-9-07 vs #3 Hoggard (T, 1-1) 3-14-07 at Richmond County (W, 9-0) Next-> |