Lee, UP soccer both win SAC matches

John Cate, The Sanford Herald, N.C.
·3 min read

Sep. 21—Both Lee County and Union Pines picked up victories in Sandhills Athletic Conference play Monday evening.

The defending conference champion Yellow Jackets remained at the top of the SAC standings with a 5-1 home victory over Richmond, while the Vikings stayed right on their heels with a 2-1 win over visiting Hoke in the final minutes of overtime.

The other team near the top of the standings, Pinecrest, kept pace by coming from behind for a 3-1 victory over SAC cellar-dweller Scotland. Southern Lee did not play and was slated to have its first match of the week on Tuesday against Seaforth.

Lee County (6-4-3, 3-0-1 SAC) had been blanked in a Saturday road trip to the Mid-Season Showcase at Clayton High School, where the Jackets fell 3-0 to Southern Nash. The Firebirds are one of the top teams in the 3A East, but they are also a team Lee will have to catch up to in order to repeat anything like last year's playoff run. However, the Jackets were ready on Monday.

Lee jumped on the Raiders (4-7-1, 2-3 SAC) for three first-half goals and then cruised after the break. The Jackets took the lead in the sixth minute of action and led the rest of the way. Richmond didn't score until the score was already 4-1 and little more than 10 minutes remained.

Five different Lee County players score goals: Logan Jordan, Alan Hernandez, Tucker Stephens, Irvin Gutierrez and Aaron Lule-Caballero. Lule-Caballero, Elias Alvarez, Gutierrez and Jordan Gonzalez were credited with assists.

Nicolas Rodriguez made four saves in goal for Lee.

The Jackets finish up their week with a trip to Scotland (3-5, 0-4) tonight.

Union Pines 2, Hoke 1

Canon John scored the winning goal in the second overtime period off an assist by Davis Perez as the Vikings (5-5-1, 3-1 SAC) remained in third place in the league standings. Union Pines trails Lee and Pinecrest (3-4-1, 2-0-1) by a narrow margin.

Union Pines head coach Ray Blatz reported that the Vikings had to face Hoke (5-5, 2-3) with several players out due to illness and injury. Neither team scored in the first half, but both teams did in the second. Union Pines got a goal from David Perez, assisted by Will Brokhoff, but couldn't break the tie as the teams went to overtime.

Brokhoff was awarded the "Man of the Match" award by his teammates.

"Exciting match which saw Union Pines defending the majority of the match and creating chances on the counter attack," said Blatz. "The defense, led by Tommy Calarco stifled the Hoke County attack, with Liam Thayer making several outstanding saves.

"An entire team effort even more impressive due to several players missing the match."

Blatz stated that the Union Pines JV team played an outstanding match, defeating the Hoke JV squad. Key contributors included Junior Flores, Brody Muhly, Brady Jordan, Zach Simpson and Jack Binon. Maddox Mari made key saves to deny any Hoke opportunities.

Union Pines travels to Southern Lee (3-4, 1-2) tonight.

Next up the Vikings travel to Southern Lee on Wednesday.