Pinecrest ran its winning streak to five games with a physical and hard-fought 2-0 conference victory over Lumberton (3-5-1) at the Pirates’ home field on Wednesday night.

Hayden Little put the Patriots on the board first, as he penetrated the Lumberton defense in the ninth minute, using his own rebounded shot inside the box to find the back of the net.

With 17 minutes remaining, Richard Palmer went one-on-one with the Pirate goalie, who was on the ground 10 yards out of the box, a position which enabled Palmer to dribble around him to the right for a virtually uncontested score at the mouth of the goal.

Pinecrest coach Todd Abbey was happy to come out on top, but called the game “uninspired.”

“It’s nice to see we can win a game like this,” he said, “when we’re not playing to our full potential. We really haven’t played well since the first half of the New Hanover game. But I am glad to have the first conference win.”

Coach Evan Saleeby’s junior varsity team shut out the Pirates 8-0, including two goals by Phillip Lett. Mark Kropp, Caelen Kohut, Jeff Maser, Tanner Jones, Gerardo Peraza and Hunter Hawes were credited with the remaining scores.