Cleveland, Knightdale soccer teams tie, keep identical records
Cleveland junior goalkeeper Austin Myrick had a busy night fighting off nearly 20 shots on goal to keep Knightdale in check and hold onto a 1-1 draw in a nonconference boys soccer matchup on Tuesday.
The Rams scored first less than 10 minutes into the game after the Knightdale defense couldn’t clear a ball in front of the net off a corner kick and Cleveland’s Ben Franklin tapped the ball in to take a 1-0 lead. From that point on, the Knights allowed few opportunities for the Rams.
The home team seemed to have the advantage as it controlled the ball in the middle and made several strong attacking runs only to come up a little short. But despite having the edge on shots, the Knights were only able to make one count, on a penalty kick Darius Jones at the 31:28 mark of the second half.
Knightdale coach Aaron Steele said his team will be looking into why it missed out on some opportunities Tuesday and working to improving on that as the Knights head into conference play.
Steele said it wasn’t a finishing problem, but rather the need to create better scoring opportunities – that, and a heroic effort in goal by Myrick, who stopped some laser shots by the Knights.
“It could be a lot worse,” Steele said. “We have stood toe-to-toe with a lot of good teams. It is better to put teams on their back, but we have had to chase. We need to make other teams chase us.”
With most of the starters gone from a team that reached the third round of last year’s 3A state tournament, this season marks a whole new approach for Cleveland. Head coach Nicholas Gruhn said the Rams are getting close despite having only four seniors on the roster. The team’s effort has improved and the defense is limiting opponents scoring opportunities.
“From an effort standpoint, we did what we needed to do,” Gruhn said. “Defensively we are where we need to be and we are going to improve offensively. We have a young team, so it is going to take some time to gel offensively.”
THREE TO KNOW
Austin Myrick, Cleveland: The keeper kept the Knights scoring attack in check with several outstanding, diving saves while fighting off the barrage unleashed by Knightdale.
Charles Pumbu and Darius Jones, Knightdale: The duo connected on several near misses for Knightdale, and should give the Knights more serious offensive looks as they head into conference play.
THEY SAID IT
“If we stay healthy we can contend with any team,” Steele said of the Knights’ chances this year. “We are pretty deep with talent. I am confident in anyone we throw out there.”
LOOKING AHEAD
Knightdale hosts Rolesville on Monday at 6:30 p.m.
The Rams will continue their tough nonconference schedule when they travel to Garner on Tuesday for a 6:30 p.m. game.
This story was originally published September 8, 2016 at 11:38 AM with the headline "Cleveland, Knightdale soccer teams tie, keep identical records."