The Hargrave Varsity Soccer Team made up for an 4-1 loss earlier in the season to Fishburne Military Academy, on Thursday, with the 2-0 victory.
The match was aggressive with continuous end-to-end action, and saw numerous well-worked opportunities for both teams to put points on the scoreboard.
The Tigers immediately came out, in the first half, and began putting pressure on the ball both offensively and defensively. Due to the added pressure the Tigers would find themselves on the scoreboard half-way through the first half off yet another throw-in from Charles Amos. Amos launched the ball from the sideline in towards the Fishburne goal, and heading directly for the back of the net. The Fishburne goalkeeper made a mistake and tipped the ball as it was heading into the goal, and was ruled as such giving the Tigers the 1-0 lead.
In the second, the pace of the match intensified as both sides pushed for goals. The Tigers were put back on their heals early on as they saw three great chances narrowly miss for their opponent. Although, the Tigers would regain their intensity, and get back into the flow of the game.
The second half remained scoreless until with 14 minutes remaining in the game Austin Newman struck to give the Tigers the 2-0 lead. Newman worked the ball impressively down through the midfield, taking on the Fishburne defenders, and beating several of them on his way towards the goal. Finally, Newman found himself in behind the opponent’s last defender and alone with the goalkeeper, and hit a blistering shot into the corner of the net from 12 yards out.
Although the Tigers came away with the 2-0 win it would not have been if not for a hard-fought effort from everyone on the field, and especially a superb performance from goalkeeper Geofrey Frazier. Frazier, in his first start for the Tigers, completed the shut-out with numerous goal-saving saves, and an absolute fearlessness coming off his line to challenge for the ball within the 18 yard box. His speed and agility, combined with a great defensive performance from Nick Wynne, TJ Johnson, Charles Amos, Dee Okunowo, and Josh Splinter, gave the Fishburne attack a fit for not being able to put one in the back of the net.
The defensive effort put forth by the Tigers was complimented greatly by the work ethic from the Tigers midfield in Tim Weir, Austin Newman, Cody Cameron, Josh Splinter, and Heath Light, and forwards in Kayode Ogunnaike, Todd Robinson, James Yu, and Garret Torney (Torney willingly helped support his team in the field of play by laying down his starting goalkeeping position, and gave the Tigers valuable minutes throughout the game).
The Tigers have now won 3 of their last 4 games, with the other being a tie, and after starting 0-3 in the conference have moved their record to 5-6-1, and 3-3 in conference play.
