Martinsville boys soccer coach Pete Scouras called 2-1 “the most dangerous score in soccer” because of the potential for a false sense of security within the leading team.
It makes sense, then, that Scouras and Bassett coach Larry Wylie pointed to the Bulldogs’ third goal — which put them up 3-1 — as the turning point for MHS in Thursday night’s 4-1 home win.
Five minutes earlier, the Bengals’ Gustavo Medina had ended Martinsville’s shutout bid when he turned hard on a volley shot from roughly 20 yards away to make the score 2-1.
Martinsville’s Zack Corcoran responded, however, when he took a well-placed poke pass from fellow freshman Garrett VanNutt and pushed the ball parallel to the 18-yard line. With Bassett keeper Bill Ison shifting toward the far post, Corcoran sent a low shot against the grain that slipped inside the left post.
“The third goal was probably where the game really turned, because we were in it up to that point” said Wylie. “I think the third goal that they stuck in the net ... I think that’s where it really turned.”
The victory gave MHS (13-2 overall, 7-0 PD) the Piedmont District’s regular-season title.
“He had an excellent game,” Scouras said of Corcoran, who broke his wrist in a Tuesday night game but played Thursday despite the hard cast on his forearm. “I thought if everybody would have had Zack’s intensity in the first half (we might have scored earlier.) I thought he came out from the start of the game and played well.”
Martinsville broke a 0-0 tie in the game’s 50th minute when Ben McGarry volleyed a shot into the net from 4 yards out.
Robbie Armbrister made it 2-0 on another volley goal, this one off a Corcoran assist from roughly 12 yards out.
After Medina made it 2-1 in the 63rd minute and Corcoran answered, Martinsville’s Armbrister sealed the outcome with a bending chip shot from 20 yards away on an Isaac Richardson assist.
Wylie said his young team, which battled a much taller BHS team all night, didn’t keep the ball on the turf as much as it should have.
“When we actually got patient and controlled the ball, collected the ball, instead of trying to do quick one-two (passes), we did a much better job,” he said.
Scouras was happy that his team, which outshot BHS 13-3, earned the PD’s regular season title and the first-round regional tournament bye that accompanies it.
Despite that reward, however, Scouras said his group can’t afford to let its focus wane.
“We’ve just got to keep digging. We’re champs and all that, but you can’t rest on that,” he said. “We’ve got to keep working.”
GIRLS GAME
BHS 4
MHS 2
Bassett’s girls soccer team put away a pesky Martinsville squad on Tuesday in Dan Greene Memorial Stadium with two second-half goals from inside the 18-yard box.
Both times, the Lady Bengals (8-2-2 overall, 6-1 PD) were rewarded for attacking the net.
“They got hungry for it right there at the end,” said BHS head coach Lindsay Favero of her players. “They didn’t let down. They were really pushing to finish a couple more shots.”
Tied at 2, Emily Warrick scored into an open net after Martinsville’s keeper made an unsuccessful attempt to close out on a 50/50 ball nearly 15 yards from the frame.
Julia Teague made it 4-2 with another loose-ball goal, this one directly in front of the net, with help from a Tayler Magee assist.
Martinsville (2-11 overall, 1-6 PD) showed its mettle early, however, as Dana Mahoney answered Deidre Carter’s first-minute goal with a breakaway score of her own to tie things at 1 in the 13th minute.
The Lady Bengals’ Sasha Doss put her team up 2-1 in the 33rd minute, converting on a self-made breakaway down the center of the field with a goal to the lower-left post.
The Bulldogs briefly tied things again in the 52nd minute when Blaire Hughes chipped a shot into the upper-90.
MHS coach Luis Palemino was proud of the effort his team displayed.
“I told them play with your heart, play with your mind and use your legs,” he said of a pre-game speech to the team, “but use your heart most of all.”
While they did that, Bassett proved too strong in the end.
“The girls have really been working on slowing the game down, getting their heads up and making smart passes,” Favero said of her players. “I think that was probably the leading factor in finishing tonight.”
BOX SCORES
Boys Game
MHS 4
BHS 1
First Half
No scoring
Second Half
M — B. McGarry goal. 49:52
M — R. Armbrister goal. Z. Corcoran ast. 57:15
B — G. Medina goal. T. Martin ast. 62:31.
M — Z. Corcoran goal. G. VanNutt ast. 67:19.
M — R. Armbrister goal. I. Richardson ast. 78:00.
Girls Game
BHS 4
MHS 2
First Half
B — D. Carter goal. C. Grindstaff ast. 0:35
M — D. Mahoney goal. 12:10.
B — S. Doss goal. 32:11.
Second Half
M — B. Hughes goal.
B — E. Warrick goal. 55:32.
B — J. Teague goal. T. Magee ast. 77:31.
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