BOILING SPRINGS, SC - The Boiling Springs boys' soccer team started off the second half of their region play with a 3-1 victory over Gaffney as they got a strong performance from junior Will Poplawski on Tuesday night.
While being the first match on the back half of their region schedule, it's also the Bulldogs first match back since the school went on spring break. "It's a good way to start the second half of region play and in this second half we're looking to make a good run to get a higher seed in the playoffs," said Bulldogs head coach Jack Underwood. "We're now looking at working to winning that first playoff game and getting to somewhere in the state, which is important to us." The game started off with a physical tone as both teams possessed the ball and were able to get shots at the goal but neither team could find the back of the goal early as both defenses kept the other offense off the board. At the twenty-one-minute mark in the first half, the Bulldogs broke the scoreless tie when Will Poplawski took a pass from Yonathan Gonzalez down the left side before breaking behind the Gaffney defender for a right footed shot that found the bottom left corner of the Indians' net to give Boiling Springs a 1-0 lead. The Bulldogs looked to be taking the lead into halftime but with just a few minutes left in the first half Gaffney's Agustin Penaloza was able to break around the right corner of the Boiling Springs defense and find the back of the net to tie the match at 1-1 going into the halftime break. Boiling Springs didn't wait as long in the second half to get their first goal as Poplawski struck again for his second goal of the night for the Bulldogs as he fought off the Gaffney defenders down the left side to strike a left-footed shot to the bottom right corner of the net to put the Bulldogs ahead 2-1 at the thirty-four-minute mark in the second half. "I've known Will since he was little and he's extremely aggressive with very good ball skills," said Underwood. "He's a very difficult player for other teams to mark and he works very hard offensively. At halftime I told the team we needed to work better as a unit and his second goal was a product of our team doing just that, working as a unit and being aggressive." The Bulldogs didn't waste much time to get their next goal as just one minute later senior Christian Gonzalez broke through the middle of the Gaffney defense finding the back of the net and pushing the Boiling Springs lead to 3-1 over the Indians. Boiling Springs also got a strong night in the goal from goalkeeper Jayce Lamb as he registered seven saves, including some strong stops on corner kicks late in the match by the Indians with the game still on the line. "The beauty with Jayce is I can pretty much ignore a lot of normal shots," said Underwood. "He'll make some spectacular saves but iffy balls he'll just smother, and his distribution is beyond anyone else in this state. He could put the ball on a dime to the fifty-yard line if we needed him to and even though he's a keeper, he's an offensive weapon." With the Bulldogs now starting off the second half of region play with a victory their focus will be on working to improve their possible spot in the playoffs as they will host two of their final three region games this season. In the region the Bulldogs are in, Underwood says it's big getting to play tough region games at home as most road games involve two-hour trips. "Having the home match in region play is very important," said Underwood. "When you're having to make two-hour road trips then play a competitive match, it's a big ask both ways and we're now going to look to use that in our favor in the second half and be a lot more competitive with teams now coming to us. We want to work on our defensive shape going forward this season in practice as most of the goals we've given up this year have been silly mistakes and we want to work that so that we're not giving up those type of easy goals." Boiling Springs will next return to the field next Tuesday when they host Fort Mill before hosting Nation Ford on Friday night. Girls Game - Boiling Springs 4 Gaffney 3 The Boiling Springs girls went on the road to Gaffney for a region matchup on Tuesday night and came away with a 4-3 win in overtime over the Indians. Boiling Springs got two goals from Charley Kerr while also getting one goal each from Emily Vargas and Keturah Meadows. The girls' team will next be in action on Monday when they travel to Hillcrest for a non-region matchup before traveling to Fort Mill on Tuesday for another region matchup. Comments are closed.
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