A fitting result
Knights, 'Canes play to scoreless draw in finale of Greenfield Cup
By Randy JonesStaff Writer WILSON DAILY TIMES
It was fitting, the coaches from both the Greenfield School and Cape Fear Academy boys soccer teams said, that Saturday afternoon’s Greenfield Cup championship ended in a scoreless tie.
"What an exciting match,” Hurricanes coach Meade McFarlane said. "We easily could have won this game, and they could have easily won it. It was a well-played match all around.”
Knights head coach Randol Mendoza said the ending was almost fitting.
"You had two good teams that just went at it today,” he said. "Both teams were very strong in the back, minimizing the chances. I think both of us can say the same thing, we each had chances we could have finished, but we didn’t. So, in the end, it probably should have ended this way.”
Cape Fear (2-0-1), of the 2-A Cape Fear Independent Conference, went the entire tournament — 240 minutes without being scored upon. The Hurricanes beat Village Christian Academy 4-0 on Friday and Kerr-Vance Academy 6-0 on Thursday.
Greenfield (2-0-1), of the 1-A Coastal Plain Independent Conference, topped Kerr-Vance 6-1 and Village Christian 5-1 a year after going 0-3 in the Greenfield Cup, Mendoza’s first games as Knights head coach.
The teams were awarded a co-championship, Mendoza said, as no criteria such as goal differential would be used to break the tie.
While the defenses were indeed stout, both teams did have multiple opportunities.
Greenfield got the first chance in the first minute of the match when senior Ryan Stone’s cross from the right side drifted dangerously close to the Cape Fear goal, bounded off the top bar and out of bounds.
The Knights continued their attack, forcing two quick corner kicks but getting nothing solid out of them as the Hurricanes defense and junior keeper Alex Wenning fended off the crosses.
Cape Fear’s Zach Tomosunas would make his presence known in the ninth minute when a direct kick he struck from about 30 yards out had to be saved low by Knights’ senior keeper Harrison Currin.
Around the 15th and 16th minutes, Tomosunas fed two through balls into the box on Hurricanes’ runs, but each went harmlessly through the open space and was cleared by the Knights’ back line.
"We do need to work a little on that, playing the ball off of each other,” McFarlane said. "Zach had a great tournament, though. He had three goals the first day, one on the second. That’s four goals in three games. I think he’s going to have a very good year for us.”
Noah Lozevski’s blast from outside of the penalty area in the 16th minute had to be saved with a sliding effort by Wenning to keep the scoresheet clean.
The two teams settled into a more possession-oriented game for most of the remainder of the half, but Cape Fear had one big push in the waning moments of the half.
On a corner kick by junior Robert Schuett, the ball was loose in the middle before it was cleared softly by a Knight defender. However, freshman Preston Meehl blasted the ball back toward the front of the goal, where it was knocked down by Greenfield’s Alonso Hernandez.
The ball glanced over to Cape Fear sophomore Eric Kanzinger, who drilled the ball on frame, but Currin stoned it.
"Both teams have to thank their keepers,” McFarlane said.
Tomosunas’ unlucky day continued as his 23-yard blast in wide-open space was slapped down by Currin in the 45th minute for the second half’s first big threat.
In the 49th minute, Currin came up big again, stuffing a shot by senior Barton Williams. The ball trickled away, but Currin crawled to it and jumped on it as an attacker converged.
Currin would finish the day with seven saves.
Repeated breakaway chances by the Knights were shut down offside calls in the second half. Five times a perfect pass threaded its way through by a Greenfield player, only to have the intended target — usually junior James Wells — called for the infraction.
"We were so close,” Mendoza lamented.
In the 62nd minute, Tomosunas was left wide open in middle about 19 yards out, but his blast sailed high over the goal.
Six minutes later, Wells gained possession away from Cape Fear senior Tony Batchler about 40 yards out, but his dash to the goal — which ended with the ball in nylon — was waved off by an offside call by the side referee.
It was ruled that Wells came back from an offside position to gain control of the ball.
In the 71st minute, Kanzinger put a scare into the home bench when his shot glanced off a defender. The deflection nearly was an own goal, but Currin was able to redirect his body and push it away.
"Harrison really came up big for us,” Mendoza said. "He even had to stop a couple from his own guys.”
Hernandez put a shot on frame that was saved by Wenning for the last of his six saves in the 72nd minute and Greenfield avoided another wide-open miss by Tomosunas in the 74th to preserve the tie.
"I told my players that Greenfield is probably going to be challenging for the 1-A state title,” McFarlane said. "So, this was a very good team. For us to come here, not give up a goal and not lose, it’s an excellent result.”
Mendoza said he is encouraged by his team’s early start as well.
"There were a lot of positives to take away,” he said. "Our communication has improved so much from last season. Especially the communication between the back line and the midfield. It’s something we stressed in the preseason. And that was an impressive effort against a good team today. They were ranked 15th at the end of last season, so for us to come out and play with them is encouraging.”
Greenfield will be back in action Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. against Beddingfield in the Rotary Cup at Gillette Soccer Complex.
Knights, 'Canes play to scoreless draw in finale of Greenfield Cup
By Randy JonesStaff Writer WILSON DAILY TIMES
It was fitting, the coaches from both the Greenfield School and Cape Fear Academy boys soccer teams said, that Saturday afternoon’s Greenfield Cup championship ended in a scoreless tie.
"What an exciting match,” Hurricanes coach Meade McFarlane said. "We easily could have won this game, and they could have easily won it. It was a well-played match all around.”
Knights head coach Randol Mendoza said the ending was almost fitting.
"You had two good teams that just went at it today,” he said. "Both teams were very strong in the back, minimizing the chances. I think both of us can say the same thing, we each had chances we could have finished, but we didn’t. So, in the end, it probably should have ended this way.”
Cape Fear (2-0-1), of the 2-A Cape Fear Independent Conference, went the entire tournament — 240 minutes without being scored upon. The Hurricanes beat Village Christian Academy 4-0 on Friday and Kerr-Vance Academy 6-0 on Thursday.
Greenfield (2-0-1), of the 1-A Coastal Plain Independent Conference, topped Kerr-Vance 6-1 and Village Christian 5-1 a year after going 0-3 in the Greenfield Cup, Mendoza’s first games as Knights head coach.
The teams were awarded a co-championship, Mendoza said, as no criteria such as goal differential would be used to break the tie.
While the defenses were indeed stout, both teams did have multiple opportunities.
Greenfield got the first chance in the first minute of the match when senior Ryan Stone’s cross from the right side drifted dangerously close to the Cape Fear goal, bounded off the top bar and out of bounds.
The Knights continued their attack, forcing two quick corner kicks but getting nothing solid out of them as the Hurricanes defense and junior keeper Alex Wenning fended off the crosses.
Cape Fear’s Zach Tomosunas would make his presence known in the ninth minute when a direct kick he struck from about 30 yards out had to be saved low by Knights’ senior keeper Harrison Currin.
Around the 15th and 16th minutes, Tomosunas fed two through balls into the box on Hurricanes’ runs, but each went harmlessly through the open space and was cleared by the Knights’ back line.
"We do need to work a little on that, playing the ball off of each other,” McFarlane said. "Zach had a great tournament, though. He had three goals the first day, one on the second. That’s four goals in three games. I think he’s going to have a very good year for us.”
Noah Lozevski’s blast from outside of the penalty area in the 16th minute had to be saved with a sliding effort by Wenning to keep the scoresheet clean.
The two teams settled into a more possession-oriented game for most of the remainder of the half, but Cape Fear had one big push in the waning moments of the half.
On a corner kick by junior Robert Schuett, the ball was loose in the middle before it was cleared softly by a Knight defender. However, freshman Preston Meehl blasted the ball back toward the front of the goal, where it was knocked down by Greenfield’s Alonso Hernandez.
The ball glanced over to Cape Fear sophomore Eric Kanzinger, who drilled the ball on frame, but Currin stoned it.
"Both teams have to thank their keepers,” McFarlane said.
Tomosunas’ unlucky day continued as his 23-yard blast in wide-open space was slapped down by Currin in the 45th minute for the second half’s first big threat.
In the 49th minute, Currin came up big again, stuffing a shot by senior Barton Williams. The ball trickled away, but Currin crawled to it and jumped on it as an attacker converged.
Currin would finish the day with seven saves.
Repeated breakaway chances by the Knights were shut down offside calls in the second half. Five times a perfect pass threaded its way through by a Greenfield player, only to have the intended target — usually junior James Wells — called for the infraction.
"We were so close,” Mendoza lamented.
In the 62nd minute, Tomosunas was left wide open in middle about 19 yards out, but his blast sailed high over the goal.
Six minutes later, Wells gained possession away from Cape Fear senior Tony Batchler about 40 yards out, but his dash to the goal — which ended with the ball in nylon — was waved off by an offside call by the side referee.
It was ruled that Wells came back from an offside position to gain control of the ball.
In the 71st minute, Kanzinger put a scare into the home bench when his shot glanced off a defender. The deflection nearly was an own goal, but Currin was able to redirect his body and push it away.
"Harrison really came up big for us,” Mendoza said. "He even had to stop a couple from his own guys.”
Hernandez put a shot on frame that was saved by Wenning for the last of his six saves in the 72nd minute and Greenfield avoided another wide-open miss by Tomosunas in the 74th to preserve the tie.
"I told my players that Greenfield is probably going to be challenging for the 1-A state title,” McFarlane said. "So, this was a very good team. For us to come here, not give up a goal and not lose, it’s an excellent result.”
Mendoza said he is encouraged by his team’s early start as well.
"There were a lot of positives to take away,” he said. "Our communication has improved so much from last season. Especially the communication between the back line and the midfield. It’s something we stressed in the preseason. And that was an impressive effort against a good team today. They were ranked 15th at the end of last season, so for us to come out and play with them is encouraging.”
Greenfield will be back in action Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. against Beddingfield in the Rotary Cup at Gillette Soccer Complex.
