By CINDY CROSBY
The Colleton County varsity boys soccer team dropped games last week against May River High School (10-0) and Lucy Beckham High School (4-0). Colleton County is 2-8 overall and 0-8 in Region VII-AAAA.
Against May River High School on March 29 at home, the Cougars were outmatched and outnumbered in the 10-0 shutout. “We played more organized, but the same issue that has plagued us all season continued,” said Coach Brian Reid. “We refused to go battle for a 50/50 ball. May River set their entire offense by winning the 50/50 and immediately attacking. On defense, we were also more organized. After giving up a goal about 12 minutes in, we made them work to score. Then, mental lapses of ball watching led to them scoring two goals, then getting burned on a failed offside trap led to another one.”
“Azion White made a great save on a penalty kick to keep the score 4-0 at halftime,” said Reid. “We had them frustrated and did a good job of stopping their offense. Our defense was caught flat several times trying to play an offside trap, which is something we had not practiced. May River subbed us to death and seemed to take it personal they were not able to score at will. I was very frustrated in the second half when it seemed apparent, they were trying to run up the score. We had limited subs and were out of gas in the last 15 minutes and it appeared May River stopped running their offense, started launching long ball counter attacks, and just outran our fatigued team – leading to more scores that should not have occurred.
Although the Cougars feel 4-0 to Lucy Beckham Friday April 1 at home, it was their best effort against a region opponent according to Coach Reid. Colleton County held Lucy Beckham scoreless through the 20-minute mark and trailed 2-0 at the half.
“In preparing for Lucy Beckham, we watched film and worked hard in practice focusing on organization, staying compact defensively, and trying to produce counterattack,” said Reid. “Since the defense has been trying to run an offside trap on their own, we took time to teach how to correctly set a trap and not get caught high and flat. Our plan was to battle for those 50/50 balls and to pressure forward. Lucy Beckham took a 1-0 lead when the defense got caught out of shape. We cannot turn the ball over in the middle field area and not immediately apply pressure. This has been an issue for us most the season. Every mistake we make ends up being a goal. We must play more soundly and not give the ball up in the mid-field or get caught ball watching.”
“We came out after halftime battling and attacking,” said Reid. “Azion made back-to-back saves before Lucy Beckham was able to score. I was extremely proud of the effort and the growth in the team from Tuesday. We had wonderful communication, battled for more 50/50 balls, pressured forward, and tried to attack. Hopefully, we can build on this and make a run late in the second half of the season. Lucy Beckham is third in our powerful region and one game out of second place. If we can play like this against this quality team, we can win the games we have coming up on our schedule.”
“This week we got Tanner Dewitt back from an injury and this was a huge lift to the defense and our team,” said Reid. “We were finally able to put our starters in better positions. We have constantly been shuffling players around. This past Friday we were able to have our strongest line up since the first couple weeks of the season.”
Colleton County travelled to Hilton Head on April 5 and James Island High School on April 8.
