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Green Hope 3 vs. Panther Creek 0
Green Hope played host to Panther Creek on Friday night. Several
firsts occurred on the evening:
- It was the first time Green Hope played the new school, Panther
Creek.
- It was the first shut-out of the year.
- It was the first time Green Hope played a Friday night home game,
and
- It was the first time the team played a 6 pm game.
It has been a long week for the Falcons with schedule changes,
canceled practices and then back-to-back games on Thursday and Friday.
Making things more difficult for the Falcons is that even though
Panther Creek only fields Freshmen and Sophomores, the players are
very talented and well coached.
Green Hope opened the game pretty sharp for the first 10 minutes,
creating many chances and showing promise. Kyle Bandy, starting
his second consecutive game played a super ball into Taylor Estrada
who beat two players and served a precise ball to Martin Murphy
who buried in the net from 6 yards away. Green Hope up 1-0.
Whether it was fatigue, overconfidence or the fine play by Panther
Creek, the Falcons went into a funk and the game bogged down. The
players seemed somewhat complacent, and didn't execute with the
sharpness that was necessary against the young, talented Catamounts.
The rest of the half was uneventful as intermission commenced, the
score remained 1-0.
Following a spirited half-time discussion, the Falcons tried some
new players to see if they could add a spark. They responded to
the challenge. Zach Query, the ever-improving Junior, netted a goal
early in the half and raised the score to 2-0. After 15 minutes,
the starters returned to the game and played somewhat better. Martin
Murphy raced down the left wing and served a deadly cross toward
Kyle Bandy who scored on a super header, only to be called for a
foul, no goal.
Taylor Estrada continued his scoring streak with a fine shot into
the left corner of the goal to seal the game away at 3-0. The Falcons
were pleased to escape with the win after what would not be considered
one of their best performances.
On the bright side, Green Hope earned a shutout against a fine
young team, and improved its record to 5-3 and 1-1 in the conference.
However, the players know they will need to step it up a notch to
compete with arch rival Apex on Monday at home. Can the Falcons
stop the Cougars' 30-game unbeaten streak?
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