JV defeats both Bartlett Yancey & Cedar Ridge in back-to-back games!

Caleb Anderson maneuvers the ball

Friday, September 7th: 2-0 win over Bartlett Yancey

Starting their weekend off right, the JV team beat opponent Bartlett Yancey 2-0 Friday night.  The team assessed the BY field and warmed up as the captains learned a few quick tips about choosing sides of the field based on the angle of the sun.  After winning the coin toss, the Panthers took the field facing the sun.  Both teams came out strong and played an aggressive game, and close to the end of the first half, captain Lionel Reid-Shaw was taken down inside the 18-yard box.  On his penalty kick, he sent a rocket in to the right-hand side of the goal, sending the Panthers into halftime with a 1-0 lead.

Danny Archibald, Player of the Game (BY)

Excited but not satisfied, the Panthers went into the second half eager to score again.  With the sun now setting, the plan was for the team to send as many balls in the air towards the goal as they could.  They moved to a 4-3-3, with three forwards up top in hopes of having more scoring options to secure the lead.

With about twenty minutes left, Lionel Reid-Shaw sent a cross in the air to the box.  Outside midfielder Joey Ricca finished it decisively with a header, moving the Panthers up by two goals, where they would finish out the game.

The Player of the Game was Danny Archibald, who showed a great amount of hard work and hustle as an outside midfielder.  Not only that, he made creative and concise passes, continually keeping the play moving.  The coaches are excited about Danny's progress!

Jaden Vines makes a crucial PK save

Monday, Sept. 10th: 1-0 win over Cedar Ridge

The team then played Cedar Ridge on Monday, Sept. 10th.  Relatively evenly matched, the teams played to a scoreless halftime.  The second half was equally as exciting, with goalkeeper Jaden Vines stopping a Cedar Ridge PK to hold the score at 0-0 (shown right) and tons of missed shots from the JV Panthers.  With the stands packed and four minutes left to play, after taking 22 shots, the Panthers finally put one away after Austin Goehring passed a ball to Lionel Reid-Shaw, who blasted his shot off of the keeper and into the net, sending the Panthers home with a narrowly won 1-0 game.  The team couldn't have been more excited.

There were to players of the game against Cedar Ridge: Lionel Reid-Shaw and Jaden Vines.  

Lionel Reid-Shaw celebrates after his game-winning goal

Jaden collected 8 total saves, many of them by coming out and playing the ball with his feet.  Jaden has shown massive amounts of improvement this year in goal!  From never playing goalie to being able to read the field and to come out early with no hesitation, Jaden's improvement has been great to see.  His touch on the ball with his feet has also greatly improved, and was evidenced in the game against Cedar Ridge.  Great game, Jaden!

Lionel Reid-Shaw is now both the assist leader and leading scorer for the JV Panthers.  He played various positions against the Red Wolves, and had excellent composure in all of them.  Lionel is shown above right celebrating with teammates after bringing home the winning goal for the Panthers.

The JV team plays at home next Wednesday against Northwood high school at 5pm.  We hope you'll join us!