Patriots Advance to East Region Semifinals
Stephen Sawyer goes high to provide the header that won the match for the Patriots Photo by Norma Stilwell
- Print print this page
- Discuss 2 comments, Blog about
Advertisement
The first 79 minutes of the state 4-A boys' soccer championship third-round game between the Pinecrest Patriots and the E.A. Laney Buccaneers pitted two physical and evenly-matched state-ranked teams against each other.
And the only thing preventing looming overtime was one minute of play Wednesday night.
Then in the span of two consecutive Patriot corner kicks and 17 ticks of the clock, junior Stephen Sawyer’s towering header slammed into the left back of the net past Buc goal keeper Stephen Lapp with 42.6 seconds left in the game, giving Pinecrest another thrilling victory on their home field by a 1-0 margin.
In ending the Bucs' season at 16-5-1, Pinecrest boosted its record to 16-2-3, with a No. 9 ranking in the state.
The Patriots will host New Hanover in an East Regional Final Four match-up Saturday night at the John Williams Athletic field. Game time is tentatively 6 p.m.
More like this story
Advertisement
Comments
Adman 6 months, 1 week ago
Wow, it was absolutely nuts!!! The ending to this game was just incredible! Less than a minute away from having to play at least another 20 minutes in OT and the Patriots slam it home with 42.6 ticks left on the clock. Man, talk about clutch! That makes 5 straight years now that the Pinecrest boys have advanced to at least the fourth round of the playoffs in soccer (final eight in the state). That is straight gettin' it done! Way to go fellas!!! Let's make it 4 straight years reaching the state semifinals (final four) on Saturday against New Hanover! GO PATRIOTS!!!
gopirates2000 6 months, 1 week ago
I was also at the game and from what I saw, the better team won. Pinecrest had quite a few really good chances that very easily could have gone in. The score of the game could have very well been 4 to 1 in favor of PC. Again, the better team won and the winning goal could not have been scored by a better kid. Way to go PC.