Continuing to show improvement, the Parry Mc-Cluer High School coed soccer team played well defensively in its 4-1 road loss to Narrows in the Pioneer District semifinals on Tuesday of last week.
The two teams have played each other three times this season, with second-seeded Narrows (6-11-0 overall, 2-0-0 district) winning both regular-season games as well, but the semifinal game was the closest of the three. Previously, the Green Wave had beaten the third-seeded Blues 7-1 on April 14 at Narrows and 9-1 on May 5 at PM.
The Blues, fielding a team for the first time in four years this season, fell to 0-9-0 overall after going 0-4-0 in district action.
Narrows took a 2-0 lead in the first half of the semifinal game and had several more opportunities to score, but PM freshman goalkeeper Cameron Glass made impressive saves. For the game, Glass secured 11 saves.
In the second half, the Green Wave scored two more goals to extend the lead to 4-0. PM scored its lone goal with a little under four minutes left when freshman A.J. Roberts came down the right side of the field and put the ball in the back of the net.
Pleased with his team’s progress, PM head coach Chuck Rice said, “We played really well. Our defense really stepped up. They moved up to the midline a lot to keep the ball in their zone.”
“We were thrilled with 4-1,” added Rice. “We could’ve packed it in.”
Narrows moved on to the district championship game and lost 3-0 at top seed Eastern Montgomery (10-8-0, 4-0-0) on Thursday.
Today, Wednesday, the Blues will play a Region 1C quarterfinal game at Galax (13-4-2), the Mountain Empire District champion. For tournament updates, visit www.thenews-gazette.com.
