How Riverside boys soccer prevailed over Eastside in a meeting of defending state champions
TAYLORS – It was a high school regular-season region game in which both teams were defending state champions.
How can that be?
Well, Riverside won its second straight Class AAAAA boys soccer title last season and then was reclassified down to AAAA, where Eastside, another Greenville County team, is the reigning state champ.
Riverside beat Eastside, 2-0, Tuesday night at John Carlisle Stadium to stay unbeaten in Region 2-AAAA. Keagan Pace scored in the opening 10 minutes and Fabian Menendez, 2022 South Carolina player of the year, added insurance early in the second half.
“Eastside is a great, physical team,” Riverside coach Scott Columbia said. “I thought we matched them and then some.”
Here's the inside scoop on the win by Riverside (9-2, 6-0) against the Eagles (12-5, 5-3), who have lost twice to the Warriors and also to Wade Hampton.:
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Riverside goals came on second chances
Pace tried a shot that clanged off the left post, but he was there to follow. The rebound came straight to him, and he punched it in for a 1-0 lead.
“I was smiling when I saw it come off the post,” Pace said. “My eyes kind of opened wide. It was a great feeling seeing the ball hit the back of the net.”
Menendez, early in the second half, beat a defender on a breakaway down the right sideline and centered the ball, but nobody was there.
Riverside maintained possession, however, and Menendez drifted to the front of the net, where he took a pass from Pace and left-footed it past the goalie into the corner.
Riverside might have injury worries
Menendez, shortly after scoring the insurance goal, came to the sideline with a tweaked hamstring and was out for the rest of the game.
“Precautionary,” Columbia said. “I think he’s OK.”
The Warriors also lost midfielder Daniel Garcia, who apparently reinjured his left ankle in the first half.
“Danny has been suffering from a couple of ankle sprains,” Columbia said. “We literally just got him back tonight. Hopefully, he’ll be ready for the playoffs.”
Eastside player showed sportsmanship
As a ball was cleared by Eastside’s goalie and everybody turned their focus to the other side of the field, Riverside player Andres Moreno was down almost unnoticed in front of the net with a leg cramp.
Eastside defender Liam Burley got to Moreno first, knew what was wrong, and began stretching him out before the athletics trainers could even get there.
“This is a weird rivalry,” Eastside coach Stephen Wood said. “I think it’s because so many of them play club soccer together. They all care about each other.”
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Riverside gets past Eastside in boys soccer game between state champs
