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Mustang soccer team extends winning streak over Panthers
Smoky Mountain did all of the scoring in the first half of a 4-0 non-conference soccer victory on Sept. 17 at Franklin.
SM extended its winning streak over the Panthers to 12 and its unbeaten streak to 14.
“It’s obviously very gratifying to be able to do that to your rival,” Coach Dolphus Brown said.
“I told the guys before the game I thought we had better skill players, and the only thing Franklin could hang on to was effort,” he said. “We didn’t want their effort to trump any talent edge we had, and we didn’t let it happen. We hit them hard early, and we didn’t look back.”
Richard Ramirez had two goals and an assist.
Smoky Mountain’s Dylan Haynes (right) and a Franklin player go after the ball in SM’s 4-0 victory last week. – Herald photo by Carey Phillips
The Mustangs (10-1) scored the only goal they would need at the 3:15 mark on Cort Smith’s penalty kick following a hand ball in the box.
Keller Berry made it 2-0 at the 19:10 mark.
“Richard had played the ball off the right side,” Brown said. “The ball deflected off the chest of one of their players right onto Keller’s chest and into the net from about 5 yards.”
Ramirez broke through several defenders to score unassisted at the 34-minute mark for a 3-0 advantage.
Ramirez scored the game’s last goal at the 37:50 mark with an assist from Paul Ulrich.
“Paul had played the ball forward to Richard,” Brown said. “He beat a defender, the keeper came out and he pushed it past him.”
The Mustangs almost scored twice in the second half. They missed a penalty kick, and Joe Davis put the ball in the net about a second after the final whistle.
SM got off 27 shots while allowing only three. Max Macedo had three saves for the Mustangs while Jessie Wagner made 16 for the Panthers.
The JVs battled to a scoreless tie leaving SM 2-3-1.
“We had some great saves by Matthew Leonard, who was player of the game,” Coach John Douthit said. “Juan Nogal and Lucas Christopher peppered the goal. Franklin had a real good keeper.”
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