Pinecrest junior Dane Nelsen wasted little time in putting the Patriots on the board in Tuesday's Southeastern Conference duel with the Lumberton Pirates.

After the opening two minutes of the game, Nelsen had two goals in close and easily recorded his hat trick in the 15th minute with a running header, as the Patriots went on to win handily 9-1.

The Pinecrest senior trio of Gray Anderson (two goals), Patrick White and Blaine Little gave the visitors a 7-1 cushion at halftime. Lumberton's single goal came as the first half ended.

Taylor Morton had a straight on shot for a goal following a nice assist from fellow sophomore Hunter Oliver midway the second half. Nelsen connected for his final score on a direct kick from 30 yards out after the Pirates were assessed a yellow card late in the half.

Juniors Mitchell Dotson and J.T. Stilwell both saw action in the goal.

Pinecrest now stands atop the conference standings with a 7-0 record, 10-4-1 overall. Next week is a busy one as they play at Scotland on Monday and at Fayetteville Terry Sanford on Tuesday.

Thursday, Oct. 14 marks Sandhills Athletic Club Youth Night as the Patriots play host to 10th ranked East Chapel Hill in a large non-conference battle. Through 14 games, East Chapel Hill has only allowed eight goals and lost Tuesday night to state power Durham Jordan in overtime.

Pinecrest Volleyball Falls

Pinecrest's hopes of a conference volleyball championship were dimmed by Tuesday's 25-22, 25-14 and 25-18 sweep by Scotland County in Laurinburg.

Scotland (7-0, conference, 17-2-2 overall) now has a two match advantage over the Patriots (5-2, 18-5) in the Southeastern Conference standings with three contests remaining. The Pats were scheduled to entertain Purnell Swett on Thursday.

Addy George had 18 kills and four blocks for the Patriots in the loss to the Scots. Megan Thomas and Callie Boone contributed 12 and nine assists.

U.P. Tennis Wins CFVC

For a sixth straight season, the Union Pines is the Cape Fear Valley conference champion in girls' tennis.

The Lady Vikings put the final touches on an undefeated CFVC league campaign Tuesday with a 9-0 win over Westover. With the victory, the Vikings finished at 12-0 in league play and are 15-1 on the season.

Sophomore Maddie Walden won two matches on the day to run her career record as a Vike to 55-4.

Up next for Union Pines is the conference tournament, which takes place Oct. 13-14 in Sanford at Southern Lee High School and O.T. Sloan Park.

Vike Booters Win in OT

The Union Pines soccer team pulled off a 2-1 overtime victory against conference foe Overhills Wednesday.

Viking senior captain Allen Cha provided the game-winning goal on a penalty kick with 2:15 left in the second 10-minute overtime period. It was Cha's second goal of the contest - his first score gave Union Pines an early 1-0 lead in the fourth minute of the match.

Overhills (3-8-1, 2-4 Cape Fear Valley Conference) squared the match at 1-all in the 12th minute. From there, Union Pines controlled possession, outshooting the visiting Jaguars 32-8 overall. In the two extra frames, Union Pines sent four attempts on target, while the Jags did not have any shots threaten the Vike goal.

With the victory, Union Pines extended its current winning streak to four matches. The Vikings are now 5-1 in CFVC play and 5-4-2 overall.

Up next for Union Pines is a huge home match against league foe Gray's Creek (7-3-5, 5-1) in a battle for second place in the CFVC on Monday.

PHS XC Wins at Elks

The Pinecrest boys' and girls' cross-country teams continued to prep for the Southeastern Conference championships scheduled for Oct. 19 with comfortable victories in Tuesday's tri-meet held at the Elk's Club course.

Tyler Clark, of Pinecrest, was the first conference runner to cross the finish line in the boys' 5K race with a time of 18:22. The Patriot boys finished with a perfect score of 15 followed by Lumberton with 58 and Hoke County with 67. Peter Deucher, a home school student, won the race with a time of 17:44.

Jamicia Jones, of Lumberton, was first in the girls' race with a time of 21:03. Alexa Zoellner, of Pinecrest, was second in 21:35. The home team finished with 20 points followed by Lumberton with 56 and Hoke with 59.

Next Tuesday's tri-meet will be held at Scotland County.

Top 10 conference finishers - Boys - Tyler Clark (P) 18:22, Jacob Troutman (P) 18:44, Matt Harmody (P) 19:01, Will Proulx (P) 19:22, Nathan Frederique (P) 19:38, George Hayes (P) 19:51, Jared Walters (P) 19:57, Joseph Murray (L) 20:10, Lloyd Tyler (H) 20:34, William Parker (L) 20:41; Girls - Jamicia Jones (L) 21:03, Alexa Zoellner (P) 21:35; Beth Hieronymus (P) 24:06, Haley Germain (P) 24:45, Katie Hayes (P) 24:59, Hana Bornhorst (P) 25:06, Callie Davis (L) 25:14, Jenna Woronoff (P) 25:26, Carmen Ramirez (H) 26:06, Laura Ott (P) 26:08.

Falcon Netters Lose

The O'Neal varsity volleyball team was defeated by Fayetteville Academy Tuesday night in three games.

The scores of the three games were 17-25, 23-25, and 23-25.

"This is the best that I have seen the O'Neal girls play," Coach Kendall Harper said. "They played aggressive and communicated well."

Katelyn Hunt lead the team with 7 kills. Quinn Griffin had 4 digs, and Katie Tighe and Jackie Chamberlain both served 3 service aces each.

Its next game is away at Cape Fear Academy Oct. 7. The last home game and also senior night is Oct. 20 vs. Harrells Academy at 5 p.m.

N.M. Tennis Finishes Season

The North Moore girls' tennis team completed its regular season schedule Wednesday, losing a tough 5-4 match to North Rowan.

"The team finished 4-10, but improved a great deal throughout the course of the year," coach Cheryl Brewer said.

In singles, Kellie Berri defeated Shannon Marley 6-3, 4-6, 7-4; Camilla Cockman defeated Catherine Crawford 6-4, 6-2; Dakota Honeycutt defeated Maria Urquiza 6-3, 6-1; Daisy Lumke defeated Ciera McDonald 6-3, 6-3; Julie Williams defeated Kathryn Parker 6-2, 6-4; and Teneshia Dickerson defeated Clarisa Gomez 6-4, 6-4.

In doubles, Marley and Cockman defeated Crawford and Berri 9-7; Honeycutt and Lumke defeated Urquiza and McDonald; and Williams and Warren defeated Parker and Koneisha Thompson 8-1.

The team will begin play in the conference tournament Monday.