Newberry Boys Soccer loses 1–0 Against Eastside on Road

Eastside needed just one clear opportunity to finish a tough Friday night of boys soccer at Fred Cone Park, and it came five minutes after halftime.

In the first minutes of the second half, striker Luke Engels seized a rebound and tucked home the winning goal in the Rams’ 1–0 victory against Newberry in a tense, card-filled match that never slowed down.

“We play very passionately, but sometimes we play over-passionately,” Newberry coach Nathan Smith said. “We started collecting some cards, and we had a red card that hurt us. But that passion is our root.”

Newberry set the tone early with emergency defending. In the opening minute, a slick Eastside through ball sprung Rams striker Jeremy Broad-Wright in behind before Newberry’s center back Jerrad Maturo recovered with a last-man tackle. From there, it turned into a battle with more than six fouls in the first 15 minutes started to heat up the night.

Sophomore midfielder Brandon Cheer forced the first Rams keeper save on a ninth-minute free kick. Moments later, senior Lucas Nowels dribbled past the left side and sent in a couple of dangerous crosses, where striker Alonso Bautro tested Eastside’s defense without success.

The Rams (1-1) responded with an outside-the-box shot from midfielder Luke Engels and a back-post cross from winger Stanley Cruz that Surya Vaddiparti just missed steering wide.

It was a tough, scoreless first half, with few chances for either team and a contested midfield battle that increased tension as the game went on.

“We’re doing a really difficult formation. It’s a 3-5-2, it relies heavily on the wingbacks, so we’ve done tons of conditioning just for that,” Panthers goalkeeper Cayden Francis said. “We used to play 442 — it’s nice and easy, but it’s easy to counter. We have to keep working to perfect it.”

Five minutes into the second half, Engels scored the only goal. Newberry’s keeper made an excellent initial save, but the rebound fell to the sophomore’s right foot, and Eastside capitalized.

The Panthers kept their heads up and fought for the tie. Diego Salvadori slipped a clever back-heel pass to excite the crowd in the 57th minute, but Cheer ripped the ball on the first touch and sent it to the sky.

Panthers forward Alonso Bautro went down in the box in the 79th minute to chants from the visiting stands, but no whistle was blown.

An 85th-minute second yellow card to Daniel Rodriguez left Newberry short-handed, yet the game still had chaos to spare. Eastside’s Stanley Cruz skied a late penalty and the final play of the game was a contested cross smothered by the Rams’ keeper.

The Panthers (2-1) start the season with seven straight road games while their stadium hosts the football schedule.

“When we get home, I think we get really energized, because our practices are there, we’re standing in our stadium, we get that home field advantage,” Smith said. “It happens every year, so it’s like a clock for us.”

Despite losing their undefeated record, the Panthers’ target remains the same.

“This team’s goal is to go to regionals. Last year, we won districts,” Francis said. “We want to get back up to where we were and go even farther.”

Newberry has a chance to bounce back Wednesday when it visits Saint Francis Catholic Academy (0-2) at 7 p.m.

Expect a focus on calmer heads, cleaner first touches and sharper set-piece defending. If they can tilt those margins, the Panthers’ next close finish could serve as motivation to keep their postseason plan on track.

Category: High School Sports, Newberry High School, Soccer