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Asheville hands SM first setback of soccer season
Asheville handed Smoky Mountain its first loss of the soccer season, 3-2, in a non-conference game Sept. 3 at Asheville.
“It was a great challenge,” Coach Dolphus Brown said. “It always is. Asheville has a lot of athletes, and they’re quite a bit better than last year.”
The teams exchanged a pair of penalty kicks to open the scoring in the first half following fouls in the box.
Asheville’s Kenneth Lingerfelt connected on the first PK at the 17-minute mark.
Cort Smith answered for the Mustangs (6-1) at the 30-minute mark.
The Cougars were up 2-1 at halftime after Tanner Nestler’s goal at the 34-minute mark.
“The defender fell down and left him open from 10 yards,” Brown said. “It was one of those unfortunate things that happens, and the kid took advantage of it.”
Wesley Barnstable put Asheville in front 3-1 when he rebounded a missed shot and put the ball in the net from 3 yards out at the midpoint of the second half.
Keller Berry’s goal off of a Richard Ramirez assist at the 65-minute mark accounted for the 3-2 final.
“Richard had dribbled the ball and gotten past the defender,” Brown said. “The keeper had come to the near post to defend. Keller slipped by and scored from 5 yards”
Brown said Jarrod Couch did an outstanding job controlling the high-scoring Lingerfelt.
“He got the PK, but other than that he was totally out of the equation,” the coach said. “Jarrod played a tremendous game.”
Brown said the Mustangs made the move to drop Couch from his attacking position to defend Lingerfelt midway through the first half.
“With about 18 minutes left in the game, we decided we were going to play,” Brown said. “We had so many opportunities. We didn’t show up in the first half. We played like we were intimidated a little by Asheville. If we had put two good halves together, we probably could have won the thing.”
The Cougars had a 19-8 advantage in shots. Asheville’s J.T. Rhoades made three saves while SM’s Max Macedo had 12.
The Mustang JVs fell to 0-2 with a 2-1 loss. Juan Nogal scored SM’s goal which resulted in a 1-0 halftime lead.
The Cougars scored the winning goal on a breakaway with 45 seconds left.
“It was an amazing level of play,” Coach John Douthit said. “It was a good, clean game.”
Matt Leonard made 13 saves for the Mustangs.
An Oct. 1 home game with West Henderson has been moved to Oct. 2.
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