North Lenoir falls to North Johnston in first round of soccer playoffs
The North Lenoir Hawks season ended with a 2-1 road loss to North Johnston in the first round of the NCHSAA 2A state playoffs. Photo by Laieke Abebe/Neuse News.
Despite another impressive regular season, North Lenoir’s boy’s soccer campaign came to an end on Wednesday.
The Hawks were eliminated by North Johnston in the first round of the NCHSAA 2A state playoffs with a 2-1 loss in Kenly. It was not the result Chris Evans and the Hawks wanted, but he was proud of the effort his team gave in this contest.
“I’m extremely proud of our group,” he said. “This senior class has led us for the last couple of years and will surely be missed. North Johnston deserves a lot of credit for the win and they’re an excellent team.”
North Lenoir started the match off strong creating a solid amount of chances early. However, all of their hard work was undone by an excellent opening goal from the Panthers.
Andrew Stancil curled a left-footed shot over the outstretched arms of Orlando Gallardo giving the hosts a 1-0 lead midway through the first half. Hawks leading goalscorer Taiwan Hines forced a save from Panthers goalkeeper Hunter Jones late in the first half.
The Hawks started the second half strongly as well, but this time it paid off in a tying goal. Senior Michael Moore’s throw in found the head of Luis Cordova in the box and three minutes into the second half, they were tied 1-1.
North Johnston generated most of the chances after the Hawks equalizer. The winning goal came when Gallardo misplayed a clearance into the middle of the field and he got caught out of his net. That gave Panthers defender Scott Sellars enough time to hit a long range shot into the top left corner of the net.
Gallardo made a huge double save with 15 minutes left to keep the Hawks alive. Hines had a good chance to tie the game late, but he didn’t have the angle on his shot attempt with five minutes left.
This was the Hawks third loss of the season to the Panthers after losing 2-1 in the first matchup on the road and 4-0 at home. Coach Evans has a lot of key pieces returning to his team next year, but it‘ll be tough to replace Hines, Gallardo, Jose Sanchez, and Jerrin Howell. They’re among the nine seniors the Hawks will graduate from this year’s team.
Hines finished his career with 88 goals and 222 points (two per goal, one per assist and he finished with 47 of those). Both of those totals are the most in Hawks soccer history and North Lenoir finished with their third straight double digit win season.
“This group made a lot of history,” Evans said about the seniors. “They’ve really taken their younger teammates under their wing this season. It’s great that all nine of my seniors were all able to leave a great legacy here.”
