By CINDY CROSBY
The Colleton County varsity boys’ soccer team fell against Region VII-AAAA opponents Lucy Beckham (5-1) and Hilton Head High School (7-0) last week.
The Cougars are now 1-3 overall and 0-3 in Region VII-AAAA.
Jeremiah Howell scored Colleton County’s lone goal against Lucy Beckham.
“Azion White had outstanding performances in both games helping to keep us in the matches,” said Coach Brian Reid following the game. “The issues that plagued us at May River continued at Lucy Beckham. We continue to drop off once the other team gets the ball, retreating to our goal, and not pressuring forward. All of this is the opposite of how we are trying to play. We just keep causing our own problems, refusing to challenge for 50/50 balls, out of position, and not picking up the right players defensively,”
“After being down 3-0 against Beckham, we changed formation to try to jump start ourselves,” said Reid. “Unfortunately, we gave up two quick goals to start the second half, falling behind 5-0. Suddenly, we seemed to start playing and Jeremiah Howell scored on a direct free kick from about 20 yards out. Lucy Beckham did an excellent job subbing and running numerous players at us. We only have four subs and everyone we are playing have 20-plus players.”
In the loss to Hilton Head, early mistakes led to two early goals and left the Cougars trailing 5-0 at the half. “Once again, we fell back into retreating and not pressuring forward,” said Reid. “We need players to focus on their roles while holding other accountable for theirs. Again, we played a much better second half and I saw real positives we can build on. I was pleased to see players step up their physicality because at this point, teams are playing competitively. We are young, but we must grow up quickly in this powerful soccer region.”
The Cougars travelled to Bluffton High School on March 15 and will host James Island this Friday, March 18.
