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Green Hope 3 at Athens Drive 0
Green Hope traveled to Athens Drive Wednesday evening for the last
game of the regular season. The Falcons had already secured the
second seed out of the Tri-8 conference in the NCHSAA State playoffs,
therefore a win or loss would not affect their standing in the play-offs.
With that being said, it was important to the team to finish off
the regular season with a win and keep the momentum going into the
NC State Play-offs.
The Falcons tried a new defensive shape and Eric Santilli started
in goal. Santilli had a strong showing and the boys did not concede
a goal in the first half and Athens had few chances. However, on
the flip side, the Falcons were not able to generate much offense
and the score at the half was 0-0.
In the second half, GH went back to their more familiar defensive
shape and put Alex Long in goal. In addition, Zack Query got the
nod at striker and Jared Dapkevich, coming off a lower body injury,
returned at left back for the first time in 5 games.
Within a few minutes, Dapkevich made his presence known by winning
a ball and playing a nicely weighted pass to JT (Justin Taylor)
on the left, and JT buried it in the goal for the 1-0 lead. Shortly
thereafter, Kyle Bandy served a ball into the box that was inadvertently
knocked in the goal by an Athens player for an own goal. Then, Justin
Smith played a nice ball in the gap for Martin Murphy who calmly
put it home for the 3-0 lead.
Several other chances came up for GH: Zack Query created some nice
opportunities for himself, but he was not able to find the back
of the net. Martin Murphy was all alone in the box, but his shot
was not his usual high standard and he was easily saved by the keeper.
Thomas Lindsey was through for a 1v1, but came up short; and Taylor
Estrada had a few good looks at the goal, but could not find the
net.
The game ended 3-0 as the Falcons concluded a very nice regular
season. After a slow 3-3 start, the team finished out the season
12-1-1, and has great momentum going into the playoffs. Their final
record is 15-4-1 and 11-2-1 in the Tri-8 conference. The Falcons
will host Wake Forest-Rolesville on Wednesday, November 1, at 6:30
PM in the first round of the NCHSAA State Championships.
The Championships can be tracked at http://www.nchsaa.org/championships.php?mode=publicviewchamps&sportID=7
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