GHS Boys Soccer Settles for Tie
It was a physical soccer match Monday night when the Gainesville High School Hurricanes tied the Lecanto High School Panthers 2-2.
The first 25 minutes of the game were uneventful, but GHS (1-0-1) controlled the start by maintaining most of the possession.
There was a glimmer of hope for GHS to get the early lead, but a goal scored by Brayden Bunce was quickly taken away after an offside call, its first of three this match.
However, momentum for the Hurricanes picked up late in the first half.
After lots of back-and-forth passing, the Hurricanes made their way downfield with Diego Briceno scoring after the ball was deflected off his teammates’ foot, sneaking past Lecanto’s goalkeeper Michael Clark.
Gainesville took the first lead, but shortly after, Lecanto capitalized on a GHS foul. Senior Nathan Santinelli gave a low-driven cross into the box for the Panthers. On the receiving end, his teammate Ryan McKee took the initial shot, but it was blocked by the GHS goalkeeper Carlos Garcia.
However, the deflected ball allowed Ben Kaja to score the equalizer for Lecanto (2-0-1).
Fouls were a common theme between both teams the entire night. The Hurricanes committed 10 fouls and Lecanto committed nine.
Junior Benjamin Fuentes and senior Jeffrey Ortega earned yellow cards in the first half for arguing with the ref after GHS fouled Lecanto.
The Hurricanes then wasted no time trying to regain the lead. Early on in the second half, Ortega put another one away after a through ball from Leonardo Rosario.
Gainesville had a few more attempts on goal, but none were successful.
The game went stale with back-and-forth action. That was until Fuentes, Gainesville’s tempo controller, received a second yellow card after a sideline scuffle, which became a red card to get dismissed from the match.
Forced to play with 10 players, the Hurricanes dropped back and lowered their offensive presence in the upper third and midfield, something Gainesville couldn’t adapt to.
“We’re not a team that can sit back and defend for a lot of the game,” Gainesville coach Noah Van Riper said. “That’s not what we’re good at.”
GHS had lost standout center back Samson Marsh to a concussion in its first game. Marsh is a key defender.
The crowd popped four minutes later in the second half. Lecanto senior captain Aiden Hurley took a one-touch-low-driven shot off a GHS turnover just outside of the box to make it 2-2.
Gainesville couldn’t respond and fell back to a defensive focus where it held the game for a couple of minutes before the referee blew the final whistle.
The Hurricanes could have earned their second win of the season, but defensive mistakes paved the stalemate.
The Hurricanes next host Columbia (2-0) at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
Category: Gainesville High School, High School Sports, Soccer
