Sanderson boys soccer
Sanderson's Taylor Wyatt (left) holds off Leesville Road's Ian Ramsey during the second half of Tuesday's Cap-7 Conference tournament semifinals match. The Spartans won the contest 2-1.
Sanderson soccer shoots down Pride
Spartans advance to face Broughton in championship Thursday
Tied 1-1 with Leesville Road in the second half of Tuesday's Cap-7 Conference tournament semifinals match, Sanderson's Glenn Scott broke down downfield with teammates J.P. Rafferty flanked to his right and Casey Francis to his left.
With the Pride's three defenders in retreat mode, Scott hit Rafferty in stride, and the senior one-timed the ball perfectly to a streaking Francis, who added soft deflection for the would-be game-winner.
From the moment Scott cross midfield, the play appeared to have goal written all over it, and the trio didn't disappoint.
Sanderson head coach Todd Worley explained the Spartans couldn't have drawn it up better.
"It was a really nice breakaway and they all did all the right things," he said. "Casey made a nice touch on the ball."
With the victory, the Spartans advance to the Cap-7 tournament's championship game against Broughton slated for Thursday at Leesville Road High School. The contest is set for a 6:30 p.m. start.
For highlights of Wednesday's Broughton/Sanderson soccer game, click on our video.
But to get to the title game, Sanderson needed to overtake Leesville, which defeated the Spartans 4-3 just two weeks earlier. Plus, the Pride were on a heck of a roll, losing just once in its previous eight contests entering Tuesday night.
However, the Spartans got an early break in the first half as Taylor Wyatt fired a cross, which deflected off a Pride defender and into goal, giving Sanderson a 1-0 advantage.
"We were putting pressure on them, the ball popping out and we did what we're supposed to, you drill it in," Worley said.
Added Leesville Road coach Chip Stone "It's what happens when you're not ready. We were standing there like a lump, and the ball gets to us."
The score seemed to fire the Pride up, and Leesville had several chances late in the first half, including a near bicycle-kick goal by Fernando Castellanos.
But the half ended with Pride still trailing 1-0.
Leesville, however, come out aggressive again in the second half, and senior Ryan Fleming evened the score up at 1-1.
"They came out popped one in on us real quick," Worley said. "We came out a little sluggish, but, really, we weren't playing all that bad."
The Spartans retaliated midway through the half as Francis scored off of Rafferty's assist.
Sanderson senior Nick Cioffi didn't underestimate the victory, and the Spartans' improved play in recent weeks.
"It's a big win, and we're coming off a good win against Enloe, too," he said. "We had a rough two-and-a-half weeks. We struggled at Wake Forest, lost to Leesville and Enloe — that was a bad string of games.
"We have put it together these last two games, but we're nowhere where we want to be yet."
Worley seconded the fact the Spartans' 6-1 defeat of Enloe in Monday's first-round match was a good momentum changer.
"Yesterday's game helped with our confidence a little bit," he said. "We haven't been playing bad, but we've needed to make our own little breaks. We did that tonight."
Stone said the Pride didn't take enough good shots on goal, and when the squad did shoot, the kicks weren't accurate.
"I thought we generated a lot of chances, we just have to put them away," he said. "The thing is we have to get our shots on-goal, or they're no good. You do whatever it takes to get them on-goal, whether that is to kick is softly that's what you have to do. You have no chance if it goes over the goal."
But the coach kept the defeat in perspective.
"Sanderson is one of the top handful of teams in the state, and we're right there with them," he said.
Leesville will likely face Fuqua-Varina in the first round of next week's state playoffs. The Bengals and Pride squared off Aug. 20, with Leesville falling 3-1.
Stone admitted the Pride is looking forward to playing a team which defeated it earlier in the season.
"I think we all wanted to play someone who had beaten us before," he said.
Pride junior Moseph Jackson-Atogi, standing nearby, agreed.
The Spartans face off with Broughton Thursday for the second time in eight days. (The Capitals notched a 2-1 win in their Oct. 21 meeting.)
Following the game, Cioffi rattled off a statistic the Spartans know too well.
"We're 0-9 against Broughton in our careers," he shrugged. "We'd really like to get a win against them."
