Lesson learned: Another slow start sends Greenfield to second loss
By Jimmy Lewis jlewis@wilsontimes.com | 265-7807 | Twitter: @JimmyLewisWT
With an experienced roster at the ready, third-year Greenfield School varsity boys soccer coach Eric Nguyen figured this would be the ideal season to put his defending North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association 1-A champions through a rigorous nonconference schedule.
The Knights are certainly in the throes of such.
Two nights after suffering their first loss at 2-A Fayetteville Academy, Greenfield dealt with the consequences of yet another slow start Wednesday night, falling behind 3-0 at halftime en route to a 6-3 setback at the hands of 3-A Cape Fear Academy on Forbes Field.
All three Greenfield (2-2) goals in the second half were tallied by senior Jeremy Alvarez, two via penalty kick. Alvarez’s final tally came in the 75th minute after the Coastal Rivers Conference Hurricanes (4-0) committed a foul just inside the box. That brought the Coastal Plain Independent Conference Knights briefly to within 5-3, but Cape Fear won a PK in the final minute that was initially saved by senior Greenfield keeper Frankie Peele, but followed up and put away by the Hurricanes’ Tate Sheally as time expired.
Playing Cape Fear even in the second half after falling down 2--0 within the first 3:34 elicited a stark contrast in morale for Greenfield in its postgame huddle as compared to where it was at halftime.
Trailing by three goals after the first half, Nguyen and assistant coach Russell Stone spent roughly 10 minutes with Alvarez and senior Julian Suarez-Robles by the bench area before making their way over to the rest of the team. A poor demeanor, which took root in the first half of the season opener against Raleigh Friendship Christian, had surfaced again — only to be rectified by Greenfield’s second-half performance.
“We’re talking about it each and every day,” Nguyen said. “I think we’re getting a little better about it. You’ll see a different team with each game.”
Added Alvarez: “Something I’ve got to work on is to keep motivating them and not criticizing as much. Just keep pushing them and telling them that the game’s not over.”
There was still plenty of time remaining after Greenfield found itself down two goals. Quickly, Cape Fear assumed the role of an imposing 3-A program against a 1-A side, dominating possession and leading just 2:36 into play on Tommy Morton’s goal. Less than a minute later, the Hurricanes drew a free kick, allowing Sheally to hit it top shelf from 25 yards out.
Adding to Greenfield’s frustration in the first half were credible opportunities that went awry. Suarez-Robles launched an accurate strike that was gobbled up by Cape Fear keeper Davis Kranchalk, while senior Will Powell, off a corner kick, rifled a header off the crossbar in the 17th minute. With the chance elapsed to make it 2-1, Cape Fear’s Ben Glickauf instead found himself unmarked and slotted it away for the three-goal halftime margin.
“One specifically, we hit off the post and that would have been 2-1 at that point,” Nguyen said. “And that could have changed the whole game right there.”
With 35:15 to play, Cape Fear went up 4-0 on Campbell McFarlane’s finish from Adam Politi.
“This is a big challenge,” Hurricanes head coach Meade McFarland said. “We thought this was a 50-50 game. They had some shots where it could have easily been 3-3 at half, and we were lucky that way. We want to have a program like Greenfield. They’re a perennial state championship kind of team, always a good program back when Ben Forbes was in here. Always a first-class program and great coaches. We’re 3-A, so hopefully we can build on this.”
Greenfield recorded its lone goal in the run of play with 27:44 to go after Powell found a streaking Alvarez for the finish. That made it 4-1, but Henry Steven was left unmarked in the Knights’ penalty area and sent a precise strike past Peele to reestablish a four-goal lead in the 56th minute.
The use of PK’s helped Greenfield make it respectable late. Logan Aimone took down Greenfield sophomore R.J. Shealy in the box, which Alvarez turned into a PK conversion in the 63rd. Fighting through sophomore Nathan Lozevski being sent off due to profanity, Greenfield cut it to 5-3 on the second Alvarez PK, but the end result was a harsh lesson — six goals in the back of the net of the defending NCISAA 1-A champions.
“Losing 6-3, that’s how we learn our lesson,” Alvarez said. “Anything can happen in the first 20 minutes, because that’s when we really lost the game, 2-0 in the first 20 minutes. We’re going to learn our lesson about that.”
By Jimmy Lewis jlewis@wilsontimes.com | 265-7807 | Twitter: @JimmyLewisWT
With an experienced roster at the ready, third-year Greenfield School varsity boys soccer coach Eric Nguyen figured this would be the ideal season to put his defending North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association 1-A champions through a rigorous nonconference schedule.
The Knights are certainly in the throes of such.
Two nights after suffering their first loss at 2-A Fayetteville Academy, Greenfield dealt with the consequences of yet another slow start Wednesday night, falling behind 3-0 at halftime en route to a 6-3 setback at the hands of 3-A Cape Fear Academy on Forbes Field.
All three Greenfield (2-2) goals in the second half were tallied by senior Jeremy Alvarez, two via penalty kick. Alvarez’s final tally came in the 75th minute after the Coastal Rivers Conference Hurricanes (4-0) committed a foul just inside the box. That brought the Coastal Plain Independent Conference Knights briefly to within 5-3, but Cape Fear won a PK in the final minute that was initially saved by senior Greenfield keeper Frankie Peele, but followed up and put away by the Hurricanes’ Tate Sheally as time expired.
Playing Cape Fear even in the second half after falling down 2--0 within the first 3:34 elicited a stark contrast in morale for Greenfield in its postgame huddle as compared to where it was at halftime.
Trailing by three goals after the first half, Nguyen and assistant coach Russell Stone spent roughly 10 minutes with Alvarez and senior Julian Suarez-Robles by the bench area before making their way over to the rest of the team. A poor demeanor, which took root in the first half of the season opener against Raleigh Friendship Christian, had surfaced again — only to be rectified by Greenfield’s second-half performance.
“We’re talking about it each and every day,” Nguyen said. “I think we’re getting a little better about it. You’ll see a different team with each game.”
Added Alvarez: “Something I’ve got to work on is to keep motivating them and not criticizing as much. Just keep pushing them and telling them that the game’s not over.”
There was still plenty of time remaining after Greenfield found itself down two goals. Quickly, Cape Fear assumed the role of an imposing 3-A program against a 1-A side, dominating possession and leading just 2:36 into play on Tommy Morton’s goal. Less than a minute later, the Hurricanes drew a free kick, allowing Sheally to hit it top shelf from 25 yards out.
Adding to Greenfield’s frustration in the first half were credible opportunities that went awry. Suarez-Robles launched an accurate strike that was gobbled up by Cape Fear keeper Davis Kranchalk, while senior Will Powell, off a corner kick, rifled a header off the crossbar in the 17th minute. With the chance elapsed to make it 2-1, Cape Fear’s Ben Glickauf instead found himself unmarked and slotted it away for the three-goal halftime margin.
“One specifically, we hit off the post and that would have been 2-1 at that point,” Nguyen said. “And that could have changed the whole game right there.”
With 35:15 to play, Cape Fear went up 4-0 on Campbell McFarlane’s finish from Adam Politi.
“This is a big challenge,” Hurricanes head coach Meade McFarland said. “We thought this was a 50-50 game. They had some shots where it could have easily been 3-3 at half, and we were lucky that way. We want to have a program like Greenfield. They’re a perennial state championship kind of team, always a good program back when Ben Forbes was in here. Always a first-class program and great coaches. We’re 3-A, so hopefully we can build on this.”
Greenfield recorded its lone goal in the run of play with 27:44 to go after Powell found a streaking Alvarez for the finish. That made it 4-1, but Henry Steven was left unmarked in the Knights’ penalty area and sent a precise strike past Peele to reestablish a four-goal lead in the 56th minute.
The use of PK’s helped Greenfield make it respectable late. Logan Aimone took down Greenfield sophomore R.J. Shealy in the box, which Alvarez turned into a PK conversion in the 63rd. Fighting through sophomore Nathan Lozevski being sent off due to profanity, Greenfield cut it to 5-3 on the second Alvarez PK, but the end result was a harsh lesson — six goals in the back of the net of the defending NCISAA 1-A champions.
“Losing 6-3, that’s how we learn our lesson,” Alvarez said. “Anything can happen in the first 20 minutes, because that’s when we really lost the game, 2-0 in the first 20 minutes. We’re going to learn our lesson about that.”
