Staff report

KING — Salisbury coach Matt Parrish could see senior Kristen Harman was getting emotional late in season-ending loss to West Stokes, but there’s no crying in soccer.
“No tears,” Parrish said. “I couldn’t allow it. There was no reason to be sad, no reason for anyone to be disappointed with the effort we gave. We played our guts out.”
Salisbury fell 2-0 to West Stokes in the first round of the 2A playoffs on Wednesday. They lost to a stronger, quicker, faster team, Parrish said, and the Wildcats (15-4-3) are probably underrated at No. 14 in the Euroscoreboard 2A rankings.
“They were touted to be good and they were exceptional,” Parrish said. “Their All-State player in the back (Macy Rutledge) is deserving of all her accolades.”
Parrish praised Harman and goalkeeper Kaytee Leonguerrero with playing the “best matches of their lives.”
“Kaytee stopped some pointblank shots and Harman hawked down two breakaways,” Parrish said. “Sprinted, got in front, made textbook tackles.”
Weather conditions were tough.
“Just a torrential downpour in the first half,” Parrish said. “They got their two goals in the first half, one on a defensive miscue and one on a beautiful goal.”
Salisbury made adjustments at halftime and tried to apply more pressure offensively. They had some chances, but the Wildcats maintained their shutout.
“We only had six shots on goal for the game,” Parrish said. “But we were in position to score a few times. We executed the gameplan, and we had our chances.”
Parrish also praised the play of Susannah Dixon and Mary Seifert.
Salisbury knew it would have a tough draw in the playoffs after losing a tight seed game for second place with East Davidson. East Davidson got to play at home and beat Wilkes Central 4-1 on Wednesday.