As he picked himself up off the ground for what must have seemed like the hundredth time Tuesday night, Mitchell goalkeeper Kyle Slagle let his frustration show.
“I’m getting tired of doing this!”he exclaimed to sweeper Greg Spanjers.
Unfortunately for the Mountaineers, about an hour’s worth of soccer remained when he made that statement.
The Salisbury Hornets launched 51 shots at the Mitchell goal, coming away with a 7-1 victory in the first round of the Class 2AN.C. High School Athletic Association playoffs.
The victory propelled No. 2 seed Salisbury into a second-round meeting Saturday at 6 p.m. against No. 8/9 &^*&^*.
“We have not seen anyone — nowhere near close — like that,”Mitchell head coach Randy McKinney said. “It should be a good game when you (Salisbury) meet Shelby, although I don’t know if they’re as talented as you are.”
For the record, Shelby owns the No. 1 seed in the west region. A showdown between Shelby and Salisbury (20-3-1) would mean a trip to the state championship game was on the line.
That’s not exactly something the Hornets are worrying about quite yet, though.
“It was a very dominating, 80-minute game,”Hornets head coach Tom Sexton said. “This will get us ready for the next one.”
Five different Hornets scored and three Salisbury players picked up assists in the blowout, which didn’t come as easily as the final score indicated.
A testy group of Hornets trudged off at halftime leading 3-1. Salisbury scored in the second minute of the game, yet missed on plenty of other great opportunities.
Making matters worse, Mitchell sharp-shooter Oscar Zepeda broke loose in the final minute of the first half and scored to trim the Salisbury lead to 3-1.
“I think what happened is we started yelling at each other. We got mad about that goal,”Hornet Alex Beaver said. “We’ve talked all year about keeping away from that.”
Sexton credited Hornet assistant coach Chris Fowler with calming his team’s spirits during the break. And while the shots kept coming and kept missing early in the final period, Salisbury finally broke away.
In the 54th minute, senior Daniel Butner cruised up the field toward the goal box and kept waiting for the defense to close on him. Mitchell (11-9-1) never responded, so Butner dribbled to the top of the box and touched a nice soft shot that glanced off the right post and into the net for a 4-1 lead.
Six minutes later, Lynden Zuniga made a run down the left side and sent a cross to sophomore Varmeh
Dorley, who managed an awkward looking kick on goal.
Butner struck again with 12 minutes to play, bringing a ball deep into the box from the right side and feeding a cross to Bill Goodman for an easy score in front.
Salisbury’s seventh tally came from Alex Beaver. Butner sent a long corner kick over the defense to Nick Gregory, who passed to Goodman for a header. The Mitchell keeper got a hand on the ball, but not before Beaver was there for a leaping finish in front of Slagle.
“It’s fun to have thousands of shots, but it doesn’t really help us that much if we’re not putting them away,”Beaver said.
Added Sexton, “We just shot and shot and shot. We were a little impatient shooting the ball.”
Sexton wasn’t unhappy with the numerous scoring chances, however, which came thanks to his team’s precision passing.
“Our one-touch passing game was just tremendous,”Sexton said. “We’re so talented and quick that we can send passes in all night long when our passing rhythm is there like it was tonight.”
Beaver’s first goal came off a centering pass from Goodman in the second minute. Bryan Goodnight added a score in the 26th minute when Beaver’s shot deflected off a defender and landed at his feet, while the third goal came from another
Butner-to-Goodman set up.
“We practiced all week on passes and touches and finishes,”Goodnight said. “We focused more on corners this week.”
Thanks to that extra time, the Hornets finally finished some chances and sent the Mountaineers home shaking their heads.
“We were lucky to get a goal on ’em,”McKinney said.
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Contact Steve Hanf at 704-797-4287 or shanf@salisburypost.com
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