Holly Springs boys soccer pulls out gutsy OT win against Fuquay-Varina

Holly Springs pulled out a gutsy overtime win over Fuquay-Varina Wednesday night in a Southwest Wake Athletic Conference rivalry between teams ranked 20th and and 25th in The News & Observer Area rankings.

HOLLY SPRINGS

The Golden Hawks (4-4, 1-2) haven’t been as much up-and-down in the early going – the four losses are against some of the area’s best teams in Green Hope, Apex, Sanderson and Heritage – as they have been back-and-forth.

In each week, coach Joey Will points out, his team has gone 1-1.

“We’re not making it easy on ourselves, that’s for sure,” Will said. “We’ve got a really young team and a lot of new faces that are juniors.”

Will continued: “These kind of games, you kind of have to dig down deep and you’ve got to work as one. This is the kind of win that wasn’t pretty and it took forever but I’ll take the win and that drive and that passion from our guys every day.”

The Hawks have allowed just two goals in their last three games after opening the year with 18 in their first five.

“That’s something we’ve done really well these last couple of games. We’ve limited those opportunities, and once we limit those opportunities we’re winning the ball and winning possession,” Will said.

Zach Wiltrout and Jeobani Martinez are leading the team in goals, but Wednesday’s win was encouraging because other Hawks got into the act. Clay Alligood and Jack Amorosso each tallied their first of the season.

FUQUAY-VARINA

The Bengals (3-2-1, 2-2) had an undefeated start to the season first soured by a 9-0 loss to Green Hope and then to Holly Springs.

That doesn’t mean Fuquay-Varina coach Nic Acosta isn’t pleased by the way his team opened the year.

“You see the highs and the lows,” Acosta. “The effort tonight was very, very good – they worked hard from the start. It didn’t really turn out the way they wanted but we can work with effort.”

The Bengals are relying on a quick counterattack to get goals and nearly had a few more against Holly Springs. Caz Dabrowski, who leads the pacey attack, now has six on the year.

“The big thing is trying to get more people to contribute,” Acosta said. “We’re relying on a couple of people to do a lot of the job so to get more guys to get hold the ball and keep our shape. We lose it at times and when you play good teams in this conference, that’ll cost you games.”

GAME LOG

2nd minute: Holly Springs’ Clay Alligood volleys in a rebounds after a scrum following a corner kick (HLY 1-0).

Halftime: Holly Springs 1, Fuquay-Varina 0.

44th minute: Fuquay’s Caz Dabrowski slots in a goal on a breakaway (FUQ ties it 1-1).

End of regulation: Tied 1-all.

End of first half of OT: Tied 1-all.

94th minute: Jack Amorosso nets a header to put the Golden Hawks up for good (HLY leads 2-1).

This story was originally published September 8, 2016 at 12:17 PM with the headline "Holly Springs boys soccer pulls out gutsy OT win against Fuquay-Varina."