After watching too many shots and passes bounce wildly off his foot, Salisbury’s Alex Beaver thought he was in for a long night.
“I can’t do anything with the ball!”he exclaimed angrily in the first half after sending a pass to a West Iredell defender instead of a teammate.
Beaver found the magic touch in the second half, though. His goal in the 56th minute secured a 2-0 victory for Salisbury in a key 2ACentral Carolina Conference soccer clash.
“I was just having a terrible night,”Beaver said. “I felt that 1-0 was not a big enough lead for us. If we didn’t score again we could be in major trouble.”
The victory marked Salisbury’s second shutout against West Iredell and moved the Hornets to 16-3-1 overall and 10-1 in the CCC. West Iredell had been lurking near the top of the league and presented a stiff challenge.
“That team can wreak havoc on anybody. They’re so physical,”Hornets head coachTom Sexton said of West, which fell to 8-8-2 overall and 8-3-1 in the conference. “We prepared for that, especially the emotional aspect. You can easily get cards if you don’t have your emotional temperament right.”
The Hornets gained the emotional advantage early thanks to a quick goal. Junior Bill Goodman sent a long pass to senior BryanGoodnight, who did a great job of settling the ball before it rolled across the end line. Goodnight sent a cross from left to right that fellow senior Lynden Zuniga headed perfectly past keeper Peter Raymer for the 1-0 lead.
Salisbury’s defense took it from there.
Hornet keeper Seth Ruhlman didn’t see much action thanks to the offensive attack and defenders Daniel Wallace, Jeremy Rehders, Nick Gregory and Drew Griffith in front of him.
Sexton said Griffith, a freshman, played “the best game of his young career” as the defense limited West to a handful of decent scoring chances, including two corner kicks cleared by the Hornets midway through the first half.
“They’re a really good team, but our defense is really strong,”Gregory said.
“Best defense in the conference, without a doubt,”chimed in Goodman.
The Hornet “D” proved crucial as the game wore on and Salisbury’s attack dropped off. The score remained 1-0 at halftime despite several great scoring chances.
In the first minute of the second half, senior Daniel Butner drew a crowd of defenders and passed to Beaver, who was all alone on the left side. The keeper came out to foil his shot and the rebound shot by Zuniga sailed high with the defense still scrambling to get into position.
“We started out good in the first half, finished that early chance,”Goodman said. “We had a lot of chances on goal and we couldn’t finish.”
Beaver cemented the win minutes later when he took a pass from Wallace at the top of the box, maneuvered to the right past three defenders and rolled a shot to the left post that finally tickled the back of the net.
The Hornets failed to convert again in the closing minutes, but kept the shutout. At the end of the match, they learned that their hard work earned them much more than a tally in the win column:
Sexton awarded the Hornets a day off.
“I can’t wait,”Goodman said. “We need the day off, and we’re going to hit the field twice as hard Wednesday.”
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NOTES:Sexton said Salisbury must win the league title to bolster its chances in the 2Astate playoffs. Each league champion receives a high seed and plays at least two home games, while the remaining seeds are likely to travel. … The CCC gets four berths this year. The top two currently belong to Salisbury and Ledford, but the Panthers knocked off the Hornets in the first meeting. … Salisbury closes the year at Lexington on Wednesday and with home games against Ledford on Monday and a make-up with Lexington next Wednesday.
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Contact Steve Hanf at 704-797-4287 or shanf@salisburypost.com
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