Sports

Trojans soccer bounced from state

Matt Stewart

LEESBURG— The momentum of 40 minutes of solid defense came crashingto a halt just five minutes into the second half of Lee County’s first-round Class AAAA soccer state playoff match.

Joe Hastings of Lakeside-Evans blasted a shot that skimmed Trojans goalkeeper Matt Johnson’s fingertips in the fifth minute of the secondhalf for a 1-0 Panthers lead. The score put Lee County on its heels and eventually led to the Trojans’ 2-0 first-round playoff exit Tuesday at home.

“I thought we played evenly up to the half with them, but I warned the boys about that first five-minute goal and that’s what they got and it took us off guard,” Lee County boys’ soccer head coach John Savalle said.

After several injuries early in the season that forced the Trojans to adjust, Savalle and his players felt like they had finally come together at the right time.

“Real disappointing,” said Johnson, Lee County’s senior net minder. “We really started clicking there at the end of the season. I just didn’twant to lose at home.”

Lee County (10-5-3) managed just three shots on net in the second half, seven on the day, but had held the Panthers to only four shots on net in the first half to keep the match knotted at zero at halftime.

Hastings’ early second half goal opened the floodgates for Lakeside-Evans, which fired eight second half shots on net. The Panthers’ Nello Thomas scored in the 17th minute of the second halfwhen he beat Johnson to the ball at the top of the box and flipped it softly into the net.

“It’s difficult when you get down (because) you overcompensate on defense and it takes away from your offensive attack,” Savalle said.

Lee County’s Brian McWhorter scored in the 37th minute of the first half, but the goal was nullified due to an offsides call. Trojans’ ValSorenson and Andrew Warren had scoring chances late but narrowly missed.

Johnson, who had 10 saves in net for the Trojans in thefinal game of high school career, now must choose between soccer scholarship offers from Hawaii Pacific University and Chaminade University.

GAME NOTES

Lee County girls’ soccer head coach Amy Cash knows there’s a temptation to look ahead to a second round grudge match with Whitewater, which knocked the Lady Trojans (15-2-1) out of the second round of theClass AAAA state playoffs a year ago.

But she’s not giving into it.

The Lady Trojans (15-2), who are the top seed from Region 1-AAAA, must first dispatch of Region 3-AAAA No. 4 seed Evans today at 5:30 p.m. at Lee County High.

“The region (Evans is) coming from is a tough region,” Cash said. “Two of the top four are state ranked in their region.”

Both Evans and Lee County’s only losses this season are to ranked teams.

The Lady Trojans are now ranked No. 13 in Class AAAA.

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