Greene Central’s Ulises Mora runs down the field during Wednesday’s game against South Central. Photo by Laieke Abebe / Neuse News

SNOW HILL — Greene Central’s boys soccer team started strong, but couldn’t close the game out on Wednesday.

Despite leading with 20 minutes left in the contest, the Rams (1-1) fell 3-1 to South Central (3-0-2) in their second game of the season. Greene Central picked up a 6-1 win over Princeton in their home opener, but couldn’t make it two in a row to start the season.

Greene Central took the early lead when Rams senior Ulises Mora scored a on a left-footed strike seven minutes into the match. Freshman midfielder Ariel Nunez picked up the assist and the Rams were off to an excellent start.

“The goal we got was the type of goal we want to get this year,” Rams head coach Matt Gnau said. “Our game is two or three touch passing and switching the point of attack. We stopped doing that in the second half and it got us off our game. (Falcons head coach) Scott Crass did a great job of adjusting and applying pressure on us.”

The Rams had chances to put more pressure on the Falcons for most of the first half, but Greene Central couldn’t create any big scoring chances. Being unable to add to the lead eventually led to the Rams demise in the second half.

With 20 minutes left in the game, Falcons freshman forward Ryan Davis won a penalty and converted it to tie the game at one. Nine minutes later, freshman midfielder David Calhoun found Davis again on a corner kick to give the Falcons a lead that they wouldn’t relinquish.

“We had to score first and we did,” Crass said about his teams performance. “Once we got that, we were able to get more chances and put them in. I’m so proud of the teams effort today. They could’ve folded after giving up the early goal and after playing on three straight days, but we fought hard to get the win against a really good team.”

Just for insurance, a short goal kick was stolen by Davis in the Rams half of the field. He dribbled all the way down the field and finished with a right-footed shot to complete his hat trick with seven minutes left. Despite the loss, Gnau is confident that his team will have a good chance to win the Eastern Carolina 2A conference in 2019.

“This game was a great measuring stick for us,” he added. “South Central is a good team, but we did have our chances throughout the game. I was looking forward to this game it was a great wake up call for my team. Hopefully, we’ll be able to tighten things up and I think we’ll be really good again this year. I’m really confident in my team this year as long as they’re putting in the effort.”

Greene Central hosts North Pitt on Friday.