Huge second half helps Cavs rout Scots
Oct. 5—Southern Lee soccer fans knew Scotland's luck had to run out at some point in Monday's match. Once it did, things got ugly in a hurry.
The Cavaliers won their second consecutive match with a massive eight-goal blitzkrieg after halftime, turning a 2-1 nail-biter into a 10-1 mercy-rule wipeout that got Southern back to .500 for the season.
Southern Lee (6-6, 3-4 Sandhills) peppered the Scotland goal with shots throughout a frustrating first half in which a combination of strong play by Scots keeper Jack Herr and defender Miles Norton kept the SAC cellar-dwellers in the match. The Cavaliers took a 2-1 lead late in the first half, but couldn't put the Fighting Scots (3-7, 0-6) away.
Southern dominated the match from the start, but didn't break through until Scotland was whistled for a foul in the 11th minute of play, which allowed Joshua Garcia to score the first goal of the match and the first of his hat trick on the evening. The Cavaliers put relentless pressure on the goal, led by the efforts of Jonathan Garcia and Isaac Mireles, but would either barely miss the goal or be turned away by Herr.
In fact, Scotland pulled even in the 21st minute, after a long kick into the Southern side of the field was followed by a defensive lapse on the part of the Cavaliers when the Scots had a sideline throw-in and managed to score off it, tying the game.
The Cavaliers shook off the mistake and pressed on. Additional shots on goal by Mireles and Erik Gutierrez missed the mark, but it was all Scotland could do just to hold off the Cavaliers. In the 26th minute, a free ball in front of the net was a race between Mireles and Herr, with the latter just winning. In the 31st minute, he stopped a Gutierrez shot, then one by Joshua Garcia in the 32nd, and one by Jose Hernandez in the 33rd.
In the 36th minute, Mireles made a cross to Gutierrez at 27 yards from the goal and the latter blasted it toward the goal. Herr didn't stop that one, and Southern regained the lead at 2-1.
Alan Calixto nearly added to the lead at the 38-minute mark, but Herr got to it in time. Southern Lee led 2-1 at the half and likely felt like they should have had five times that many.
This was rectified after intermission, when the Cavaliers made a few adjustments on the attack, and Scotland found itself out of answers and out of luck. In the second half, Mireles had his own hat trick, while Joshua Garcia added two more goals for his, and Josmar Nunez, Calixto, and Kyle Jones scoring as well.
Two assists each were credited to Joshua Garcia and Gutierrez, with Jose Hernandez, Alex Villatoro, Calixto, Jones, Jonathan Garcia, and Mireles all having one.
The match came to a merciful end in the 70th minute when Southern Lee reached a nine-goal lead.
Jovanni Patricio and Danis Cabrera combined to do the work in goal for the Cavaliers.
Southern travels to Pinecrest tonight for its only other match of the week.
