The last time Washington and Miami Trace met on the soccer field, back on Sept. 15, the two teams battled to a 1-1 tie at Washington High School.
Thursday, on a beautiful fall evening at Miami Trace, the teams met again to complete the season series.
The Panthers won this hard-fought match, 2-1.
The match was tied at the half, 1-1.
Miami Trace’s Brett Lewis scored the first goal of the match, the assist to Ethan Conn. That came at the 22:23 mark.
Trent Brown scored the equalizer for the Blue Lions with 16 minutes to play in the half. That goal was unassisted.
“He found the ball on the left side of the box,” Washington head coach Aaron Teter explained. “He hit the shot back to the far post. It was a beautiful shot.”
Conn had what proved to be the game-winning goal, assisted by Lewis with 7:28 to play. That goal held up for the 2-1 Panther victory.
“Lewis brought the ball out on the wing, crossed it over, and Conn finished with a header,” Miami Trace head coach Josh Thoroman said.
“I think we had 80 minutes of good effort out of my team tonight,” Thoroman said. “It was a solid performance all around.
“I felt like we were fortunate to come away with a 1-1 tie at the first meeting,” Thoroman said. “I did feel like we out-played them tonight. But, I want to give credit to Coach Teter and the defense they’ve put together. They have a very good defense.”
“It was a super-exciting match,” Teter said. “Both teams came ready to play, as you’d expect in a Court House-Trace game. Trace was all fired up and so were we.
“It was great, energetic soccer,” Teter said. “When they come off of their high, they’re going to be extremely fatigued; my team is extremely fatigued right now. Everybody left it on the field tonight; it was a great match.”
Miami Trace had 15 shots to 20 for Washington.
Tim Kinzler had eight saves for the Panthers and Brian Wilson had six saves for Washington.
Washington (3-10-2 overall, 2-9-1 SCOL) hosts Westfall Tuesday evening. The tournament draw is Sunday.
Mimai Trace (5-7-1 overall, 3-6-1 SCOL) plays at Leesburg Fairfield Saturday at 2 p.m., at Hillsboro Tuesday and at Wilmington Thursday to conclude SCOL play.
Miami Trace lost previously at home to Hillsboro, 2-1 on a last-second shot. The Panthers lost previously to Wilmington, 5-0.
