GALLATIN — With Friday night’s soccer match between district rivals Beech and Gallatin High School deadlocked in a 1-1 tie early in the second half, Beech’s Jack Hepburn eyed up a free kick after a Gallatin penalty.
Gallatin goalkeeper Carter Cooper shouted instructions to his teammates, lining up the three-man wall defense in just the right position to protect the goal.
Hepburn seized the moment and the opportunity for his team, sending the free kick around the wall, past the diving goalkeeper and into the bottom left corner of the goal.
The kick would ultimately end up being the game winner, as the Buccaneers walked away with a 2-1 victory, pushing their record to a perfect 6-0 on the season.
“It felt good when it went in. I didn’t think it would be that good honestly,” Hepburn said. “I was looking at trying to get it over the wall and then dip it into the goal, and it worked perfectly.”
It was a well-placed goal by a really smart player, Beech Head Coach John Ferguson said.
“That’s a good free kick on any level,” he added. “The fact that he’s able to go around the wall and into this post that’s supposed to be covered by the wall.”
The second of back-to-back district games and playing on Gallatin’s large field was a tough task for Ferguson’s squad, but he was happy with the way his team fought through the challenge.
“This is a good, tough, resilient team that understands what we’re trying to do and is able to battle through the adversity instead of looking for reasons to lose a game,” Ferguson said. “Coming to Gallatin is always tough for teams. One, because [Gallatin Head Coach] Greg Harper gets his kids ready, and the amount of running you do on this field is higher than you do anywhere else. You could see we had tired legs, but mentally we were strong tonight.”
Friday’s match saw a fast pace as both teams were sprinting up and down the field attempting to use a strong wind to their advantage.
Beech struck 21 minutes into the first half on a goal by Mathias Cobb, who scored on a sneaky shot past the Gallatin keeper.
Gallatin responded with a little less than four minutes remaining in the half on a goal by Noah Abbott, who kicked home a nice feed from teammate Brian Perez. Perez used his speed to race in on goal and make the pass with two Beech defenders and a sprawling goalkeeper closing in.
As the game clock ticked under 10 minutes left to play, Gallatin made a strong final attempt to tie the match with several rushes and corner kicks, but was unable to find the back of the net.
After a good start to the season, the loss now marks six straight for the Green Wave.
“We can’t put anything together, can’t find the right combination,” Coach Harper said after Friday’s match. “I think we had some decent stuff if we would have connected some passes and had some composure on the ball. Little things are stopping us from probably breaking through and until we figure that out, we’re kind of stuck. But we just got to go back to work and get better.”
“Beech played well though, give them credit.”
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