After 90 minutes of scoreless soccer, Fort Mill Yellow Jackets edged Catawba Ridge in penalty kicks on April 4 giving them their first Region 3-5A loss of the season.
The Jackets won 4-3 on penalty kicks with Carter Eppes scoring the final goal for Fort Mill. Fort Mill keeper Stanley Marshall held strong throughout the match and in penalty kicks as well.
“We are a young team and we want to build the culture,” said Fort Mill head coach Henry Kalungi. “We are trying to get our rhythm of what we expect. Credit to the boys they did a great job.”
Catawba Ridge controlled the ball most of the match and won on possession time, but still came up short.
“It is a cruel game we love,” said Catawba Ridge head coach Phillip McCarter. “You can dominate and still come out with a loss. There is so much parity in our league. The competition is so high. It literally can be the way the ball bounces sometimes. The boys did all we could ask for.”
Fort Mill improved to 7-7 on the season and 4-3 in the region, while Catawba Ridge dropped to 6-1 in the region and 10-3 on the season.
The Copperheads controlled the ball early in the match. Catawba Ridge had an early shot attempt about eight minutes into the match, but was a little off center with the shot.
About three minutes later, Fort Mill got their first decent possession and was able to get a shot by Ace Scardingo, which bounced off the left post.
Fort Mill started controlling possession, more often kept things on their side of the pitch midway through the opening half.
Catawba Ridge was finally able to get some momentum and got a corner kick that just missed. As the first half went on, momentum would continue to swing back and forth between the teams. With less than 10 minutes left in the first half, the Copperheads were able to pressure the Jackets defense and pepper Fort Mill keeper Stanley Marshall, who held strong.
Despite both teams getting good looks in the first half, each went into the locker room at the half without a goal. Catawba Ridge had a good look about a minute into the second half, but didn’t capitalize.
Fort Mill also had their share of early looks in the second half, even got a corner kick at the 45-minute mark in the match.
Frustrations started mounting as the Jackets got a yellow card about 14 minutes into the second half.
The Copperheads thought they had a breakthrough goal in the 62nd minute, but a whistle was blown before the ball went into the net. That led to a penalty kick for the Copperheads, which was stopped by Marshall.
Catawba Ridge continued to control possession in the second half after the goal was waved off, but couldn’t convert on free kicks and corner kicks. After 80 minutes of soccer the two teams went to overtime scoreless and then after another scoreless 10 minutes, the teams proceeded into penalty kicks.
April 4 Roundup
The Nation Ford girls’ soccer team beat Northwestern 7-0 to improve to 7-0 in Region 3-5A and 13-2-1 overall.
The Nation Ford boys’ soccer team beat Northwestern 5-0 to improve to 4-2 in Region 3-5A and 12-4 overall.
The Nation Ford baseball team beat Rock Hill to win the three-game series with a 16-4 win. The win puts the Falcons at 6-3 in Region 3-5A and 8-6 overall on the season.
The Catawba Ridge softball team beat Fort Mill 10-0 to improve to 18-0 on the season and 7-0 in Region 3-5A. Fort Mill dropped to 2-5 in the region and 3-7 overall.
The Catawba Ridge baseball team fell to Indian Land 9-1 and are now 8-6-1 overall and 5-4 in Region 3-5A.
The Fort Mill baseball team scored eight runs in the fifth inning to rally over Northwestern and pick up a 9-5 win to improve to 12-3 overall and 9-3 in Regin 3-5A.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
