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Volunteers equalize before downing Pillow Academy |
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Thursday, 19 November 2009 |
By DAVID MILLER
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It was the kind of game that usually takes place weeks into a soccer season, but Starkville Academy proved to be an in-form team with a 3-2 win over Pillow Academy on Wednesday.
The unusually early Class AAA North match happened to be the season opener for the Volunteers, who also broke in a new head coach with former Mississippi State kicker Artie Cosby.
It’s a new season with a new coach and a new attitude for the Vols, who used a pair of second-half goals to down a lightning-quick Mustangs side. Central midfielder Roy Miles, who scored the game-winner in the 75th minute, said the team wasn’t fazed by the immensity of a crucial opener. He believes it worked into the team’s favor by providing added excitement to the start of the team’s season.
“You can just feel the confidence in the team,” Miles said. “We had a lot of confidence before and with the way we played against these guys we feel confident about the rest of the teams we’ll play. That team (Pillow) is as good as we’ll see this year.”
Miles’ winner came just minutes after Pillow’s Hunter McNeer wasted a shot from inside the 18-yard box by blasting high past SA goalkeeper Herston Williamson, who drew his first career start. McNeer had a handful of breakaways on the day but will be left to rue his lack of accuracy.
Then, Miles pulled the trigger inside the box after a lapse of marking freed him in front of goal.
The Vols had to equalize after the Mustangs opened the scoring in the 5th minute. Myers Falls latched on to a through ball and out-ran SA defender Austin Kinard to beat a frozen Williamson low and to the right.
Just 10 minutes were needed for SA to pull level, as Miles provided the perfect pass for Patrick Jones who blasted a low shot to the left post past Pillow goalie Brandon Curry.
The 1-1 line stood at halftime, but the Vols were unfortunate to see six-plus chances on goal end up either side of the post. Miles had a thunderous shot spilled by Curry in the 12th before Frankie Jones saw a nice run squandered with a shot right at Curry. Vols senior Will Goodwin had a half-volley flick to the back post sail wide in the 35th to add to the shooting woes.
“Yeah, we had some chances that could have made it a different scoreline for us,” Cosby said. “But guys kept going and I thought we played well in both halves. Our passing was good and we did a better job of possessing the ball than Pillow quite frankly. There were just a couple of real good looks that we should have taken advantage of.”
After the break, Patrick Jones made good of Justin Pritchard’s failure to put away Frankie Jones’ low cross in the 44th minute. Frankie Jones latched on to Goodwin’s chipped ball and made a good touch to create space and an angle for the cross, which Patrick Jones had fall right to his feet inside the 18 after Pritchard’s attempt at goal saw the ball roll in his direction. Patrick Jones cleaned up the play to secure his second goal of the match.
The lead was short-lived as Lee Hines beat a charging Williamson to the top of the box and laid-out to put a low shot to the back post in the 55th. The leveler was nearly added to just two minutes later when Falls flicked over Williamson, only to see his shot hit the crossbar and bounce off the ground without crossing the goal line.
SA’s senior keeper made up for his green moments in goal when he later met Falls at the top of the box following a through ball from McNeer. Williamson charged the pass and collided at the ball with McNeer to avert the danger.
Then, the blood started to boil.
Following a hard tackle from behind by Parker Harris, Goodwin questioned the sophomore’s motives and the pair exchanged words before being separated. The pair received straight red cards for the bust-up and will each miss their team’s next match.
However, that was the height of action in the final minutes for the Vols, who hit the road Friday to face Clarksdale Lee.
Though the team showed a good eye for goal and creativity on offense, the Vols were victimized by Pillow’s speed up top. Central defender Jake Read wasn’t satisfied following the match but admitted Pillow’s speed will probably be the best SA will face this season.
“Washington might be as fast as these guys but this is about as tough as it gets,” Read said. “They’re a lot faster than us and they got in behind us at times. In the second half, we gave them more space and dropped our defensive mids to help deal with it. I thought we adjusted well in-game. We’ve got some work to do but I think we’ll be sound from here on out.”
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 21 November 2009 )
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