WEST ALEXANDRIA — The Twin Valley South boys’ soccer team played under the lights against neighboring foe Dixie on Thursday, Sept. 6, and emerged victorious, 3-2.
With the win, South improved to 2-2-2 overall.
It was a tight game in the first half, as both teams had multiple chances for goals. Senior goalkeeper Zach Guehring made several saves against very close shots in the half for South. Midway through the first half, both teams had two fast-break chances for goals, only to see them fail to hit the opponents’ nets. It was also a very physical game, as many players were hitting the ground and seeing a number of foul calls early. At halftime, neither team had scored.
Early in the second half, Dixie very nearly broke the empty scoreboard but was cleared out by a stout TVS defense. Minutes later, Ian Kurtz kicked a hard ball against the Dixie goalkeeper which ricocheted off his hands and into the net for South’s first goal of the night at about the 36:40 mark.
Minutes later, a Dixie penalty kick slipped past Guehring to tie up the score at 1-1. Later in the game, a Greyhound player knocked the ball into his own side’s net off a shot by Hunter Bennett, giving TVS the 2-1 lead.
As in the first half, the game continued to be rough in the final 40 minutes.
A third Panther goal was scored by Aaron Clark, assisted by Jacob Wells. But Dixie didn’t fold up — they responded with 4:35 left in the game with a long, angled kick over the head of Guehring which landed in the back corner of the net to make it 3-2.
After the brief shock, the Panthers held on and prevented a Greyhound comeback to win their second game of the season.
“Anytime you can get win is a good thing,” said South coach Clay Young. “Some of the plays were really questionable in the calls they made and the calls they did not, but we do our best to adjust to their style of officiating and go from there. Guehring has been great all year and it’s great to have him guarding the net. The one thing we’ve been trying to work on is our counterattack. Getting the ball, playing outside. When our freshman, Aaron Clark, got his first-ever goal, I was happy for him.”
South was scheduled to play Tri-County North in Lewisburg on Thursday, Sept. 8. Results were unavailable at press time.
