Eagles Win Over Livingston, Lose to East Ridge and Tie Lenoir City
Evensville, TN -- Friday night began under the Bill Horton Field lights for the Trojan Nike Invitational Soccer Tournament, with games at 4pm, 6pm, and 8pm, at which time the Eagles faced off vs. East Ridge. Rain set in during the second game, so it was a steady downfall at the start of the Eagles game at 8. The first half saw 2 yellow cards handed out to the Pioneers for dirty play off the ball, but the Eagles kept driving through and putting pressure on the goal, still remaining scoreless at halftime. The second half was soaked conditions on the turf, with another yellow card being handed out to East Ridge for intentional delay of game. Halfway through the second half, the Pioneers were awarded a direct kick outside of the 18 box on a questionable flop and managed to bury it in the far corner, as the Eagles were still setting up and didn’t realize the shot could be taken without a whistle from the ref to resume play. Despite a valiant effort by the Eagles, they came up short of tying the game and ended in a loss of 1-0.
Soddy Daisy, TN -- The Varsity squad traveled to Soddy and started off with an early Saturday morning game vs. Lenoir City. The Panthers scored 2 goals within the first 20 minutes of the first half, but the Eagles did not let up. Luke Parker managed to give the Eagles a goal before the half ended with a shot outside of the 18 box, so the score was 2-1 at the half. The Eagles kept up the attack in the second half, and Adrian Moreno hustled in off a corner kick rebound around the 25 yard line and buried the lofty shot in the upper right corner of the goal to bring it to a tie 2-2. The Panthers retaliated and scored again to once again claim the lead 3-2. The Eagles kept their heads and kept driving the ball up and putting pressure on the goalie. With less than 10 minutes on the clock, Moreno lofted the ball high again and Christian Bautista ran from the far side to find the back of the net with his header, bringing it back to a tie with a final score of 3-3.
The final Varsity game of the day began at 3pm and was vs. Livingston Academy. Both teams kept the pressure on each other, with a 0-0 halftime score. The second half for the Eagles saw a goal in the net within the first 10 minutes off a cross to the middle from Trey Eldridge to Levi Walton, who took 2 touches and rocketed the ball past the goalie’s hands. Final score was 1-0, and the Eagles ended with a record of 1-1-1 for the tournament. The Eagles' season record is now 3-2-1.
JV also played 3 games Saturday, winning the first game 2-0 with Jack Bamber and Gio Lopez scoring, the second game was also a win of 2-1 with Ulyses “Uly” Lopez and Jack Bamber scoring, while the third game ended in a tough loss of 2-1, with Gio Lopez scoring the single goal for the Eagles. The JV record for the weekend was 2-1.
Head Coach Justin Smith had this to say, "Overall this was a good weekend for us. We got a lot of different looks on both ends of the field, things we can build on and grow from, and it's the perfect time of the season to have those opportunities. Both JV and Varsity teams did well overall, and it makes us excited to get into district play here in another week!" The Eagles face off at home Tuesday night, March 26th, vs. Bradley Central with the JV game at 5:30pm and Varsity following at 7pm.
Audrey Norman
