Lady Raiders kick off Gazette Cup in style

The girls soccer team at South Point HS got a good start at the East Lincoln Invitational last week (one win, one tie, and one losss) and the Gazette Cup this week.

 (Gazette Photo)

Currently, the 2-1-1 Lady Raiders, fresh off a 1-0 win last night over rival East Gaston in the opening evening of the annual Gazette Cup, look forward to a level playing field this season.

Kings Mountain, Forestview, and Ashbrook lost a significant number of players to graduation last year, but as normal, just reloaded for this spring campaign.

Don’t count out East Gaston by any means in this spring season, or Hunter Huss for that matter. East Gaston picked up a number of the players to the varsity roster off last spring’s Mount Holly middle school finalist team and they made an immediate impact in last night’s match. More on Hunter Huss at the end of the article.

Red Raider freshman, Diamond Davis, scored the lone goal  of the match on a very quick counter attack by the Red Raiders, blasting past East Gaston midfield standout, Kylie Payne, and defender, Emily Ingle, to send home a goal on sophomore backup keeper Ayanna Reid in the 4th minute of play. Reid normally is a defender and was filling in for senior Sydney Heffner for this match.

After the initial shock of the goal, East Gaston played fundamentally sound soccer throughout the rest of the match. Freshman strikers, Kristen Calhoun and Stephanie Aguilar frustrated the defense of South Point almost all evening. South Point’s back line of Methodist College signee, Christine Ellington, along with Mandy Donaldson,  Elizabeth “Eli” McEwan, and Julia Ratchford had their hands full containing the penetrating runs of the youngsters.

Coach John Miller’s squad used frequent substitutions to apparently rest the legs of his players in this early season test. Seniors Gerry Le and Abbey Gensch ably led the Raider midfield with solid support from 2008 Miss South Point, Kaley Rivera, and a rotating series of wing players.

Freshman, Paige Donaldson, and sophomore, Shannon Holder, rotated in and out all evening giving the South Point women much needed speed and added an interesting element to the attack. Diamond Davis was definitely the story for the Raiders on this evening. The freshman phenom has speed, an aggressive quality, and the desire to shoot every chance down the pitch. She is a raw talent that will need to be nurtured because the frustration element against older, stronger defenders was apparent late in the match.

Junior keeper, Gabby Bevlin, who transferred after last season from Highland Tech, stepped up big time by directing the squad from behind. Her chatter was very professional and kept the SP defense focused. East Gaston’s shooters, Kylie Payne, Sadie Schronce and Kristen Calhoun were met by fast hands and solid physical play by Bevlin.

Probably the biggest standout of the evening was an unassuming player named Crystal Ocasio of East Gaston. She wears number 9 and played in the left defensive back position and midfield wing position. As a sophomore, she displayed a maturity and talent beyond her years given the speed of the SP attack. Several times she stripped Davis of the ball and cleanly cleared along the left touchline.

Ocasio shined inthe final 10 minutes of the match as tempers began to flare between the squads. Julia Ratchford was called for a foul deep in her defensive corner (receiving a stern warning from the referee) about 20 yards from goal. Ocasio placed a perfect direct free kick into the box, which Bevlin saved. Talk about a bit of breath holding by the Raider fans!

Within stoppage time, Ocasio placed another direct free kick smack into an onrushing SP keeper, anybody else, it would have been a goal. Bevlin came up big time with what turned out to be the final play of the match.

On Thursday night, South Point will face defending Gazette Cup champions, Kings Mountain,  who beat an outclassed North Gaston squad, 11-0. KM, last springs 3A regional finalists lost 9 players to graduation, but still remains big, fast, and strong. Kings Mountain has several fast midfielders and strikers, and are not afraid to match up defensively body-for-body. The match will be held at Martha Rivers Park in Gastonia. Admission is $4 and funds from the event go to the Gazette “Newspapers In Education” program.

Big South Conference Outlook 

This spring’s Big South Conference will be an exciting one with what we are terming the most “level playing field” over the past several years. Six of the seven schools have legitimate shots at winning the conference title this season.

Hunter Huss and Ashbrook are the early season favorites, but don’t overlook East Gaston, Forestview, Crest, or South Point. Each squad is loaded with experienced year-around club players.

Huss played a very good match against Highland Tech last week and displayed some defensive moxie and speed along the wings and a super keeper.

Forestview has a good midfield and creative coaches. Ashbrook has a new coach, and a positive attitude along with solid midfielders.

Crest, as always, draws good Cleveland County club players and possess speedy attackers.

Only North Gaston will struggle this season. They had a great corp of freshman last year that seemed to disappear as the season progressed.

Looking forward to the start of a new soccer season, as always, here on the Belmont Front Porch.

Fall Sports for SP have regretfully been completed

 

With the loss of the state playoff football game last Friday night, the fall sports programs at South Point have come to a close.

What a great fall season though, eh?

The boys soccer team did well; the football team did great. Boys and girls cross country did well. Girls golf improved. Girls softball has a lot to look forward to in the next couple of years, and the volleyball teams looked good for another season.

Even the cheerleaders fared well ! Powderpuff cheer squad too !

Belmont Middle School still has boys soccer in-season for a couple of more weeks, and the rest of the sports re-tool for the winter sports of swimming, basketball, and wrestling.

HS basketball tonight at the gym - vs. Cherryville – updates later as our intrepid HS reporters text the sports editor.

Gadd Named Big South Conference “Keeper of the Year”

  

South Point’s goal keeper, Case Gadd, was named Big South Conference “keeper of the year”, in a vote by the conference coaches. South Point also earned 5 additional slots on the All-Conference team.

Gadd earned keeper of the year title with a stats record that every keeper would like to have in their career. 164 Saves, 10 shutouts in this season and only 16 goals allowed.

South Point players selected to the All-Conference team: 

Sr. Aaron Pegues, South Point, Defender; 4 year varsity starter, three time all-conference selection; 5 goals this season with 9 assists. More importantly, Aaron anchored one of the toughest defensive lines in the state, only allowing 19 goals all season. Pegues has been known to pull shots taken right off the goal line and put back into play. Three year team captain.

Sr.Devin Anderson, South Point, Def, three year varsity starter, defensive stalwart for the Red Raiders.

Sr.Matt Crane, South Point, MF, 2 year varsity starter, 2nd year all-conference selection, scored 10 goals and 9 assists on 2007 season. Had game winning goal in 15th Annual Gazette Cup final; first year as team captain.

Sr.Will Harbin, South Point, MF, 3 year varsity starter, 4 year varsity player, 3rd year as all-conference selection; 15 goals and 13 assists on season; 2nd year as captain of team.

Sr.Kevin Haskins, South Point, F, 2 year varsity starter, 2nd year all-conference selection, 39 goals on season with 13 assists. Top ten scorer in the state of North Carolina for 2 years in a row.

 All-Conference Team 2007

 

(South Point Senior Class 2007, 18-4-1)