Tiger Cubs boys' soccer falls to Speedway, Davis scores two goals

Friday, September 21, 2007

It was a good night for soccer at the Big Walnut Sports Park, as the WCC match-up between Greencastle and Speedway was a battle as expected. The host Tiger Cubs lost 3-2.

Speedway got things going quickly as sophomore Jake Daghe received a long ball behind the Tiger Cubs back line and beat keeper Ryan Payne to take a 1-0 lead with 1:30 played.

Play evened out for about 10 minutes, until Speedway slipped a through pass up the right side that eventually resulted in a Greencastle foul inside the penalty area.

Sophomore Kevin Eggert put the PK into the net to give the Sparkplugs a 2-0 lead with 12:40 played. The Tiger Cubs settled down and began to take control, keeping the ball in the Sparkplugs' end for most of the period. They were unable to finish on several good scoring opportunities, however, and the score remained 2-0 at the break.

"Unfortunately we made a couple of mistakes early to give them the lead," GHS coach Davie Lilly said. "They had four shots and came away with two goals and we had a dozen but could not beat their keeper."

The Tiger Cubs were ready to play at the start of the second half, again just missing on three chances in the first two minutes.

Eric Davis

This time, the Sparkplugs would commit a foul in the penalty area as Destin Holmes was knocked down six minutes into the half. Senior Eric Davis stepped up and delivered on the PK to close the gap to a goal. The Tiger Cubs continued to outplay the Sparkplugs, but their shots kept missing high or wide. With 15 minutes to play, Davis connected on a free kick to tie the score 2-2.

"When Eric hit the shot to tie the score, I felt we were going to come back and win the game," GHS coach Dave Lilly said. "They were on their heels and looked very tired at that point. Their keeper had really kept them in the match. I liked our chances if the game was headed for overtime.

Unfortunately it was Speedway that would score next as Eggert netted his second goal of the evening. He received a long free kick, beat the Tiger Cubs back line and hit a shot into the corner of the goal past Payne with nine minutes to play. Greencastle had a couple more chances, but Speedway was able to hold on for the win.

"We had a couple of key players that were injured and one was ill tonight. We outplayed them despite that but in the end we beat ourselves because of the mistakes that we made early," Lilly commented.

The Tiger Cubs (9-4) will travel to Terre Haute North at 7 p.m. Tuesday

At Greencastle

First Half

Speedway -- Payne

Speedway -- Eggert

Second Half

Greencastle -- Davis

Greencastle -- Davis

Speedway -- Eggert

Next game -- The Tiger Cubs (9-4) will travel to Terre Haute North at 7 p.m. Tuesday

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