Gallery by Tina Laney
Friday night Shady Spring and PikeView were both looking for some late season momentum heading into sectional play next week.
When the final horns sounded, it was the girls and boys wearing blue that were riding high.
Following a 3-0 shutout win by the Tigers in the girls game, Michael Vecellio scored four goals in the nightcap to lead the boys to a 5-2 win.
The win by the Shady Spring boys snapped a nine-game winning streak by the Panthers.
“We created a lot of chances. I love seeing how the boys want to move the ball, possess the ball and create quality chances. We did that tonight.” Shady Spring boys head coach Josiah Smith said. “It still felt like we had a lot of shots that were long range. We scored a couple long ones, but we are more lethal when we get close.”
Nathan Cook gave PikeView the initial lead on a penalty kick in the 23rd minute after Shady Spring was called for foul in the box.
However, fouls and mistakes in and around the 18 would be the theme of the night in the boys matchup.
With just under five minutes to play in the first half, a handball by the Panthers gave the Tigers a penalty kick and Vecellio was true on the try sending the match to halftime tied at 1-1.
Shady took its first lead in the 51st minute when PikeView was called for a foul in the box, setting Vecellio up for his second score of the night.
“(Michael) is smart, athletic and his center of gravity is so strong. I have never seen anybody be able to defend him,” Smith said. “He gets fouled all the time. He pushes the ball and they have to let him go or foul him. They fouled him tonight.”
Although the home team was dominating the possessions Thursday night, PikeView refused to go away and evened the match seven minutes later.
Panthers leading scorer, Jonathan Mitchell hammered home a corner kick to tie the match with 22 minutes left to play.
The joy was short lived for the visitors, however, as Vecellio converted two direct kicks just outside the 18 in the next seven minutes to give the Tigers a 4-2 advantage.
A Vecellio capped the scoring in the final minutes, but this time it was Nathan Vecellio that found the back of the net for the 5-2 margin.
The win was nice, but Smith emphasized to his team that it has bigger fish to fry next week.
“We wanted to win this game, but we understand that the mission is for next week,” Smith said. “We have James Monroe here for our (semifinal sectional) game and we want to stay focused on that.”
In the opening match of the night, the Shady Spring girls culminated a season of growth with a convincing win over the Panthers.
Freshman Ella Gray opened the scoring in the seventh minute of play and sophomore Alli Betkijian made it a 2-nil game at the half with a goal in the 30th minute.
“I think most of the games this year we have controlled the game, but we just couldn’t put it in the net a lot. They are starting to get aggressive and peaking at the right time,” Shady Spring head girls head coach Joey Beckett said. “That is what we want. We played real well and I have been really pleased the last couple of games. We have been working on shooting and following up and it’s paying off.”
Senior standout Mallie Lawson capped the scoring for the match with a deep blast in the 72nd minute for the Tigers.
On the girls side, Shady Spring and PikeView will meet again Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. in sectional play, but this time the loser will be done for the season. The boys will host James Monroe 30 minutes after the conclusion of the girls match in their semifinal clash.
