The Hargrave Tigers opened their season on Tuesday afternoon as they hosted Roanoke Catholic at Dick Dyer Field. After a thrilling game, the Tigers wound up on the wrong side of a 5-4 defeat.
The Tigers welcomed a mass of new faces to their roster this season and two newcomers really stood out in the early moments of the game. Hargrave struck first on the scoreboard as Samuel Lee found the back of the net after some great ball movement. Moments later, Dylan Bryson added a goal, making it 2-0 in the first period. Lee and Bryson, both sophomores, showed signs of being a real dynamic duo that the Tigers, and first year head coach RJ Reich, can build around this season.
Both Lee and Bryson added another goal apiece to offset the pair of Roanoke Catholic goals as Hargrave took a 4-2 lead into halftime. However, coming out of halftime, the Tigers were stonewalled and failed to score another goal in the final 24 minutes of play. Another sophomore, Biagio Pugliese, had an outstanding debut in goal, and truly held Roanoke Catholic at bay for the majority of the goal. Unfortunately, in the waning moments of the contest, Hargrave gave up the game tying goal with 54 seconds on the clock and within 16 seconds, saw another Roanoke Catholic shot find the goal as the Tigers, who led the entire game, experienced a heartbreaking 5-4 loss to open the season.
The Tigers are back in action on Friday March 13th from Dick Dyer Field as they host New Covenant. Game time is set for 4:00 PM.
