Tanya Chilton | The News
Brayan Gomez (#9) shoots three goals to defeat the Greyhounds in a team effort along with Omar Duran (#7).
Tanya Chilton | The News
East Surry Varsity Coach Bill Hart congratulates Andrew Kozlow on achieving personal effort to shut down Greyhounds high scorer Mitchell Midkiff.
PILOT MOUNTAIN — The East Surry boys soccer team shut out the North Surry Greyhounds Thursday in a 6-0 victory on their home turf.
The Cardinals came into the conference match last night with a 5-5-1 record to battle the Greyhounds whose record was 4-8-1.
Head Coach Bill Hart described the shutout against the Greyhounds as “unexpected.” The team came into the match having defeated Winston-Salem Prep the night before in another victorious shutout 8-0.
Hart commended the team effort put forth yesterday by the players. “They played hard and put forth good effort and hustle,” said Hart.
Offensively, the Cardinals set the tempo quickly.
Brayan Gomez (#9) scored a strike at seven minutes with the assistance of Andrew Kozlow (#1). Two minutes later, Ethan Atkins assisted Cole Casstevens who scored another one against the Greyhounds.
Ten minutes later, Brody Gentry (#30) scored a third goal assisted by Ethan Atkins (#10) at 19 minutes into the game.
At halftime the momentum was all Cardinals and the score was 3-0.
The tempo did not change.
Eleven minutes into the second half, Gomez shot and made another strike with an assist from Souli Boutis (#6).
Offensively, the Cardinals did not let up the entire game. They played very aggressive and once past midfield, in which they penetrated easily, they proved a dangerous threat offensively throughout the entire game.
Cristian Cortez and Sergio Castillo of the Greyhounds did play a very aggressive game against the Cardinals, but it was not enough with Greyhounds’ offensive weapon Mitchell Midkiff (#3) being stalked all night by Kozlow who did not let him get out of his sight.
Greyhounds’ Caleb Ramey (#10) defended well, but the Cardinals spread out their offensive weapons quickly and effectively. They charged hard with an assist for every goal scored.
According to Hart, this was part of the plan coming into the match.
In order to secure a victory against the Greyhounds, Hart said part of the plan was to cover Midkiff effectively, who is Greyhounds’ top scorer. Kozlow did all that was asked of him. At every opportunity, Kozlow cut off Midkiff’s angles and was effective in keeping him out of any scoring opportunity.
“I came to neutralize Midkiff and came to play,” said Kozlow. Hart agreed that the team effort and individual tenacity of Kozlow and others was excellent this evening.
Finally, Gomez took the honors again scoring the fifth goal with an assist by Casstevens.
Caleb Mann finished the honors along with Brody Gentry securing the final and sixth goal and shutout with the help of Gentry’s assistance.
Reach Tanya Chilton at tchilton@heartlandpublications.com or at 719-1921.
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