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Maroon Devil Cameron Phillips recorded 27 goalkeeper saves in the home game against the Smoky Mountain Mustangs.
The Swain High men’s soccer team hosted 3A Smoky Mountain High School Mustangs on Wednesday night. Seven minutes into the game senior Landon Matz broke away from 60 yards out and scored on the Mustang goalkeeper. With 12 minutes left in the first half, the Devils were called with a high kick giving the Mustangs a free kick from 36 yards out. The Mustangs converted the free kick into a goal. The half ended with the Devils and Mustangs tied 1-1.
In the second half, the Mustangs added a second goal just 10 minutes in. The rest of the game remained a defensive standoff between the two teams.
“Overall, it was a tough game for our team. We were very proud of the amount of improvement they have shown between Monday night and Wednesday night though,” Head Coach Scott Cline said. “We continue to make small tweaks here and there to figure some things out.”
Defensively, senior Canon Helpman led the way with 23 steals/clears, followed by sophomore Brendon Lanning with 10, sophomore Max Wilmot with 5 and senior Spencer Rowland and sophomore Clayton Shuler each with 4. In goal senior Cameron Phillips recorded 27 goalkeeper saves.
The Player of the Game for the Maroon Devils was senior Canon Helpman.
“Canon did an amazing job on defense and helped us close down a lot of their goal attempts,” Cline said. “This year he has had to play out of his traditional position of Defensive Mid and is doing a great job in the back line.”
Devils vs Bears
On Monday, Swain soccer hosted the 3A Pisgah Bears. Landon Matz scored the Devil’s only goal off a penalty kick. On defense Brendan Lanning led he way with 19 clears/steals. He was followed by Helpman with 13, Wilmot with 6 and Rowland with 5. In goal Phillips recorded 17 saves.
The Player of the Game for the Devils was Brendan Lanning. “Brendan really stepped up his game on the defensive side,” Cline said. “He helped us to keep them from scoring more goals.”
Next Monday the Devils will finish out their non-conference games and host 3A Franklin and on Wednesday they will host 1A Mountain Heritage at 6 p.m.