Traveling to Georgia, Soccer Ads win 2 of 3 in Classic
AUGUSTA, Georgia — Farragut High School’s boys soccer team won two of its three matches last week at the Greenbrier Border Classic.
The Admirals closed their stay in the Peachtree State with a 6-0 victory over Lowndes Saturday, March 23. There, Farragut (3-2 overall) had to answer an early wake-up call for an 8 a.m. kickoff.
But that didn’t seem to matter, as the Ads had their best offensive game of the early 2019 season.
Against the Vikings, senior Wes Jeter scored two goals while Jake Lowe, Matthew Rickards, Nathan Miller and Aarda Irmak each tallied once.
That victory represented the second consecutive shutout for senior goalkeeper Brandon Keene, and culminated a tough weekend trip that saw the Admirals tangle with three top Georgia teams.
Lowndes hails from the South Georgia town of Valdosta.
“This tournament was good for us because these teams had a lot of games on us,” FHS head coach Ray Dover said. “The teams from Georgia, and Alabama too, have already been playing for a month. We faced some good competitions against schools that are a lot bigger than us.
“We want to play teams like this because our challenge is to build up,” he added.
The Admirals also notched a shutout victory Friday night, March 22, when they downed The Academy of Richmond County (Augusta) 1-0.
Farragut scored the lone marker of the match against the Musketeers when Timi Omitaomu tallied.
Helping Keane notch a pair of shutouts was the Admirals’ defense, which played well even in the tournament opener against the host Greenbrier Wolfpack Thursday, March 21.
“Our back line was good,” Dover said. “The back line even played well in the game that we lost against Greenbrier. We lost that game 3-2, and we lost it late when a guy subbed in and converted a corner kick. We knew it was coming, and we (the coaches and players on the sideline) were all yelling at the top of our lungs. But we lost that game late.
“Our back line was good there. Greenbrier scored their first two goals on turnovers up the field,” he added. “It was 1-0 at halftime and it was because of turnovers and the guys all knew it.
“We asked them about that goal at halftime and the guys all said in unison that it was because of turnovers.”
Dover noted the Wolfpack scored their second marker due to another turnover by Farragut.
The Admirals got both of their goals in that match from Jeter, one of the area’s top forwards and snipers.
“We were all pretty teed off after we lost that first game,” Dover said. “I’m not taking anything away from Greenbrier because they’re good. But after that game, the guys all got together and decided that they were going to play better.
“In our game against Richmond Academy, we outshot them,” he added. “We had like 15 shots to their two.
“The difference between that game and the game against Lowndes was that we finished.”
Farragut travels to play Knoxville West starting at 7 p.m., today, Thursday, March 28.
“West is always competitive,” Dover said.
