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Washington Evening Journal
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Demon soccer storms back
Washington scores 3 in the second half to score rally win over Mt. Pleasant
WASHINGTON — Monday night’s Southeast Conference boys soccer clash between rivals Washington and Mt. Pleasant was a tale of two halves.
In the first 40 minutes, the visiting Panthers looked to be in position to score a road upset over a Demon team that seems to be an SEC favorite early in the season. Washington, however, scored three times in the final 40 minutes to pull out a 3-0 victory.
“We talked about at halftime how they had to decide if they wanted the game or not,” said Demon head coach Sally Hart. “They all did, and it really showed in the second half.”
After a couple of good chances for both teams early, Mt. Pleasant began to get hot in the first half, connecting on a pair of opportunities in the final 15 minutes of the period.
Mt. Pleasant’s first goal came via penalty kick. Dylan White drew a penalty shot by drawing a tackle in the box. He took his own PK attempt and buried it for a 1-0 lead with 13 minutes and 2 seconds left in the half.
The Panthers had one more goal in the period when Jonah Zimmer connected with 7:48 left in the half. Zimmer took a pass at the top of the box and buried one into the left side of the net for a 2-0 advantage.
The Panthers had multiple opportunities for another goal. The Panthers nearly scored just seconds after White’s tiebreaking goal when Axel Noriega Ruiz sent a rebound just right of the net, and the Panthers created a couple more chances late in the half.
The Panthers, however, couldn’t keep up the good times in the second half. Washington came out with a different attitude in the final 40 minutes, scoring just over three minutes into the second period.
Edwin Cortes cut Mt. Pleasant’s lead in half with 36:52 remaining. He scored off a rebound to kick off what would be a nearly perfect second half for the Demons.
“We definitely underestimated them going into the game, and that got to us,” Cortes said. “When it went in, confidence definitely went up adrenaline kicked in, and I knew we were able to come back.”
Just minutes after Angel Mata nearly tied it up but sent a shot just over the crossbar, Brayan Arreola tied things up for the Demons. Arreola, who is now Washington’s all-time goal scorer, made it 2-2 when he deflected a shot off a Panther defender to score with 25:02 left.
As the second half went on, the Demons continued to get the better of the chances.
“I think our age got to us a little bit,” said Mt. Pleasant head coach Rocco Russo. “Washington smelled blood in the water, and they came and got some.”
The Demons took their first lead of the day with 20:09 remaining. Lucas Lindsey took a pass from directly in front of the net, spun and scored the eventual game-winner to bring the score to 3-2.
The Demons continued to get chances against Mt. Pleasant keeper Xachary LaBlanc, who finished with six saves on the day. The Demons could never stretch the lead, but Mt. Pleasant couldn’t come back to tie the game.
The win gave Washington a 3-0 overall record, as well as a 1-1 mark in SEC play. Mt. Pleasant is now 1-2 overall and 1-1 in the conference.
