Spring Creek blanks Midway, advances in 1-A boys' soccer playoffs

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on November 4, 2012 1:53 AM

• Print
• Email

SEVEN SPRINGS -- Spring Creek had 10 days to sit and think about its final game of the regular season, a loss to archrival Rosewood.

The Gators came out hungry and intense in a 3-0 victory over Midway in the second round of the N.C. High School Athletic Association 1-A soccer playoffs on Saturday night.

Spring Creek travels to Southwest Onslow on Wednesday.

"The big thing tonight was that our guys played team soccer and shared the ball," Spring Creek head coach Linda Salter said. "We knew that Midway was a solid team and it was going to take our best effort to move on."

Brayan Lopez got the Gators on the scoreboard in the 10th minute when he collected a crossing pass from Otto Binar and buried a shot past the Midway keeper. Lopez made the score 2-0 in the 25th minute when he beat the keeper a second time off of an assist from David Vega.

The score remained 2-0 until halftime as the Gators' defense played all of Midway's long balls into the offensive zone easily out of bounds.

"I saw Midway play in the first round and I knew they liked to work down the sidelines," Salter said. "I thought we did a good job of taking that away."

Midway had a chance to get back into the game in the 43rd minute but Jovani Espino's shot hit the right post and bounced out.

Spring Creek (13-2-3 overall) put the game away in the 62nd minute when Vega took a pass from Binar and booted a shot. The ball deflected off the Midway keeper and then off a Raider defender and into the net.

The Gators finished the game with a 10-8 advantage in shots on goal. Victor Ortiz made four saves to earn the shutout for Spring Creek.