Knights kick off playoffs with 9-0 rout of Kerr-Vance
From staff reports
The three-game skid by the Greenfield School boys soccer team seemed a lot further than a month ago after the Knights kicked off the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association 1-A playoffs with a 9-0 rout of Kerr-Vance Academy on Friday evening.
Greenfield, the defending state 1-A champion and top seed in the East Region, improved to 7-3 with its fifth consecutive victory while unseeded Kerr-Vance exited 3-6. The Knights will host Woodlawn School of Davidson in the semifinals Tuesday, Oct. 27, at 6 p.m. The Trailblazers, unseeded in the West, blasted No. 2 Southside Christian of Clayton 7-1 on Friday. The other semifinal Tuesday pits unbeaten Ridgecroft (8-0) at West No. 1 Grace Christian (7-3) of Sanford. If the Knights win Tuesday, they will host the NCISAA 1-A championship match Saturday, Oct. 31.
Greenfield, playing an NCISAA 1-A foe for the first time all season, wasted no time in establishing its dominance Friday at Forbes Field. The Knights scored five goals in the first 12 minutes and outshot Kerr-Vance by a whopping 31-2 margin. Greenfield also took six corner kicks to none by the Spartans.
For Knights head coach Eric Nguyen, those three straight losses in September now seem like they happened months ago.
“I just feel like we’re playing at such a high level right now and we’re peaking at the right time,” he said. “It’s such a different team from three and a half weeks ago.”
For a squad full of seniors coming off a state championship season in 2019, Nguyen said the Knights’ early struggles weren’t wholly unexpected. But the key to the team’s recent success is “just trusting each other more.”
In the third minute, senior Sebastian Partida Jr. took a short corner kick from classmate Jeremy Alvarez and sent a cross into the box. The ball caromed around until junior striker Jacob Wiggs launched it into the net for the only goal the Knights would need.
Alvarez had three goals and three assists while Wiggs also had a hat trick, his second this season. Nathan Lozevski and Will Powell also had goals while Spencer Thompson registered two assists.
However, that didn’t stop them from continuing the offensive pressure.
Alvarez fed Powell for a one-touch goal in the seventh minute and, two minutes later, Thompson started a give-and-go to Wiggs before finding Alvarez for a left-footed finish.
Alvarez picked up another assist as he found Wiggs for the fourth goal in the 11th minute and Lozevski slammed in a rebound from some 18 yards to complete the five-goal onslaught in 12 minutes.
Greenfield led 7-0 at halftime. Alvarez connected again in the first minute of the second half, with junior R.J. Shealy making the assist, before Kerr-Vance ended the contest via the mercy rule with an own goal in the 43rd.
From staff reports
The three-game skid by the Greenfield School boys soccer team seemed a lot further than a month ago after the Knights kicked off the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association 1-A playoffs with a 9-0 rout of Kerr-Vance Academy on Friday evening.
Greenfield, the defending state 1-A champion and top seed in the East Region, improved to 7-3 with its fifth consecutive victory while unseeded Kerr-Vance exited 3-6. The Knights will host Woodlawn School of Davidson in the semifinals Tuesday, Oct. 27, at 6 p.m. The Trailblazers, unseeded in the West, blasted No. 2 Southside Christian of Clayton 7-1 on Friday. The other semifinal Tuesday pits unbeaten Ridgecroft (8-0) at West No. 1 Grace Christian (7-3) of Sanford. If the Knights win Tuesday, they will host the NCISAA 1-A championship match Saturday, Oct. 31.
Greenfield, playing an NCISAA 1-A foe for the first time all season, wasted no time in establishing its dominance Friday at Forbes Field. The Knights scored five goals in the first 12 minutes and outshot Kerr-Vance by a whopping 31-2 margin. Greenfield also took six corner kicks to none by the Spartans.
For Knights head coach Eric Nguyen, those three straight losses in September now seem like they happened months ago.
“I just feel like we’re playing at such a high level right now and we’re peaking at the right time,” he said. “It’s such a different team from three and a half weeks ago.”
For a squad full of seniors coming off a state championship season in 2019, Nguyen said the Knights’ early struggles weren’t wholly unexpected. But the key to the team’s recent success is “just trusting each other more.”
In the third minute, senior Sebastian Partida Jr. took a short corner kick from classmate Jeremy Alvarez and sent a cross into the box. The ball caromed around until junior striker Jacob Wiggs launched it into the net for the only goal the Knights would need.
Alvarez had three goals and three assists while Wiggs also had a hat trick, his second this season. Nathan Lozevski and Will Powell also had goals while Spencer Thompson registered two assists.
However, that didn’t stop them from continuing the offensive pressure.
Alvarez fed Powell for a one-touch goal in the seventh minute and, two minutes later, Thompson started a give-and-go to Wiggs before finding Alvarez for a left-footed finish.
Alvarez picked up another assist as he found Wiggs for the fourth goal in the 11th minute and Lozevski slammed in a rebound from some 18 yards to complete the five-goal onslaught in 12 minutes.
Greenfield led 7-0 at halftime. Alvarez connected again in the first minute of the second half, with junior R.J. Shealy making the assist, before Kerr-Vance ended the contest via the mercy rule with an own goal in the 43rd.
