Hawks concede two goals to open second half, fall to Washington
North Lenoir’s Luis Cordova fights to keep possession against Washington’s Michael Reid. The Hawks fell 4-2 to the Pam Pack on Monday in La Grange. Photo by Laieke Abebe/Neuse News.
In a big game between two teams with a chance to win a conference title, North Lenoir was unable to answer a quick scoring outburst from Washington.
The Hawks gave up two goals in the first two minutes of the second half and fell to the Pam Pack 4-2 in La Grange on Monday. It was a must-win game for North Lenoir (8-6-1, 5-3 ECC) who needed to win to have a chance at sharing the conference championship at the end of the season.
Unfortunately, they couldn’t keep up with a Washington squad that has its own aspirations.
“I’m proud of my teams effort,” Hawks head coach Chris Evans. “If we put it all together for 80 minutes, we could’ve made it a tougher game. The two goals they scored at the start of the second half gave them all the momentum. All we can do is come together as a team and regroup for our next contest.”
For the Pam Pack (11-2-2, 7-1), Brian Martinez scored the opening goal with 17 minutes left in the first half. However, Washington would concede a penalty and the Hawks capitalized.
Senior defender Jerrin Howell converted the kick with four minutes left in the first half. Goalkeeper Orlando Gallardo made some big saves early to keep his team in it and it was 1-1 at halftime.
The Hawks put themselves in a big hole early in the second half. Pam Pack midfielder Dawson Cox scored off a free kick by Seth Davis before scoring on a penalty of his own one minute later to make it 3-1.
Luis Cordova converted another penalty kick for the Hawks late in the second half to give his team a chance to stay alive. However, it wasn’t meant to be as a long-distance goal from Martinez put the game away for Washington.
“They have a great team and a great coach,” Pam Pack head coach Jim Kozuch said. “We did a pretty good job defensively outside of committing a few fouls inside the box. Overall, I’m really excited that we got this win, but now we have to move on to our next game.”
North Lenoir heads on the road to face West Craven next Monday in Vanceboro.
“This loss hurts,” Evans added, “but we have four games left and we’re going to finish strong. I want us to win these last four games because my seniors deserve to end their season the right way.”
