SPENCER— Three Hornet goals in the final five minutes made the rain feel just a touch colder Monday night as it fell on the Cavaliers.

North Rowan played 75 minutes of solid soccer against 2ACentral Carolina Conference rival Salisbury only to fall 5-2 after the flurry of late goals. The victory left the Hornets undefeated in the league and the Cavs still searching for their first CCCwin.

Still, a precarious 2-1 Salisbury lead late in the second half made the Hornets take notice, especially after an easy 4-0 win earlier this season in the county tournament.

“They looked very much improved tonight,”Hornets head coach Tom Sexton said. “Center of the field all the way through to the back, they have better touches and are making smarter plays. Anybody coming in here thinking it was going to be a walk, it wasn’t any of my players. You’re not going to get walks against North.”

Salisbury peppered Cav keeper Michael Hill with 20 shots in the first half, but had a 1-0 lead after 40 minutes to show for it. A defensive breakdown in the 22nd minute turned a Cav clearing pass into an opening down the right side for sophomore Alex Beaver, who lofted a soft liner over a leaping Hill for the unassisted score.

But with some help from defenders Michael Smith and Adam Montieth, Hill kept it 1-0 despite the constant pressure.

“He played real well tonight,”Cavs head coach Vince Connolly said of Hill. “He made some key saves for us. If he plays like that and we don’t give up silly goals, then we become a very formidable team.”

“Their defense really picked it up this game,”said Hornet senior David Pinkston, adding that Sexton’s only adjustment at halftime was to get the Hornets taking better shots. “He said we had to get our shots more on target instead of hitting them over and to the sides.”

Tropical depression Gordon made its mark on the game five minutes into the second half, leaving the players in a downpour for most of the final 40 minutes. The Cavs’ chances at a win looked all wet a minute after the rain came when Daniel Wallace’s shot on goal deflected to brother Jason, who made it 2-0.

Eleven minutes later, though, North caught the Hornets napping. Senior Chico Sanchez beat the Salisbury defense to a deep ball that was played out of bounds. Before the Hornets could get back, Sanchez made a long throw-in to Kevin Rutherford, who headed the ball to a wide open Jordan Littleton. Keeper Seth Ruhlman didn’t stand a chance, and the rejuvenated Cavs were right back in the game.

“If a defender falls down and Chico Sanchez has the ball on his foot and we make a critical error, it will be one of those really tight matches with them because they’re emotionally high for us,”Sexton said.

The Hornets countered with great scoring chances from Beaver and Daniel Butner that Hill turned away. North’s offense shifted into overdrive, crashing the goal — literally. The Cavs’ best shot at a tie came in the 62nd minute when Sanchez sent a long ball on goal that Littleton and Ruhlman reached at the same time for a big collision, but no score.

“They picked it up a whole lot,”Hornet NickGregory said. “We had to play our hardest.”

The hard work paid off in the closing minutes. After weathering the Cavs’ storm, Salisbury iced the match in the 75th minute when Will Ketcham found Butner deep in the penalty box. Butner dribbled through a handful of defenders and managed to bounce a shot from a horrible angle into the corner of the net.

Two minutes later, Butner hit Beaver for an open shot from just 10 yards out, and Butner added an exclamation point with three minutes to go. Running past a trio of defenders on the football field’s 25-yard line, he stopped on a dime, noticed that none of the Cavs closed to challenge and sent an unstoppable blast into the upper right corner to make it 5-1.

Littleton scored in the final minute for the 5-2 final.

“If we’d have got to 2-2 it might’ve been a different ballgame,”Connolly said. “We just ran out of gas. We played 11 players tonight and it’s a lot to ask for them to put in the 80 minutes and play the way we’re asking them to play.”

NOTES: The Hornets were surprised that the game went on despite a forecast of Gordon’s visit. But Connolly wasn’t about to take away a chance to slow the Hornets. “We played on a hard, fast turf and got beat 4-0 and it could’ve been 12-0,”Connolly said, referring to the tournament loss. “We wanted to get a shot in the rain and we played a little better.” He then added with a laugh, “They (the Cavs) probably take after their coach. Being English, I’m much better in the rain than on those 90-degree days.”