Last Wednesday, the Swain High School soccer team hosted the Andrews Wildcats at home at Swain Memorial Stadium and finished the game with an impressive 11-2 win!
“We played a good game overall. Andrews has some talent on their team, and we need to be prepared the next time we play them for sure,” Head Coach Scott Cline said. “We had a lot of players that stepped it up in many different areas of the field. Many of them were playing in different positions than they were used to.”
On defense, sophomore Max Wilmot and sophomore Brendan Lanning led the way with 5 clears each. They were followed by senior Canon Helpman with 4, and junior Owen Craig and sophomore McClane Whorton each with 2.
In goal, senior Cameron Phillips recorded 4 goalkeeper saves and freshman Matt Evans recorded one goalkeeper save. The Player of the Game for the Devils was junior Owen Craig.
Devils vs. Jackets
On Monday, the Maroon Devils hosted Hayesville for a 4-0 win against the Yellow Jackets!
The game started off with a lot of defense as it took 37 minutes for either team to score. Sophomore Brendan Lanning found senior Matthew Gray with a ball over the Yellow Jackets defensive line ending the first half with the Maroon Devils in the lead 1-0.
Three minutes into the second half, Gray dribbled past most of the Yellow Jacket defense including the goalkeeper. The last defender blocked Gray’s shot with his hand just before it entered the goal. The Maroon Devils were then awarded a penalty kick that Gray converted into a goal. Twelve minutes into the second half, sophomore Clayton Shuler sent a ball through the Yellow Jacket defense finding Gray for his 3rd goal of the night giving him a hat trick. With six minutes left in the second half, Gray took a corner kick that Lanning finished with a header.
“We played a good game. We were missing two of our top three scorers plus some other key players. We had many other players step up their game making major contributions,” Coach Scott Cline said.
On defense, sophomore Max Wilmot led the team with 13 clears/steals. He was followed by senior Canon Helpman with 12, sophomore Brendan Lanning with 8, senior Spencer Rowland with 6 and sophomore James Sanchez with 5. In goal, senior Cameron Phillips recorded 9 goalkeeper saves.
The Player of the Game for the Devils was sophomore Clayton Shuler.
“Clayton really stepped up his play in the game and was not afraid of taking contact in the middle of the field. He really increased his intensity in the game,” Coach Cline said.
The Maroon Devils move to 3-1 in the conference and traveled to Cherokee on Wednesday for a 5:30 p.m. game and will host Highlands on Monday for Youth Night beginning at 6 p.m.