Three in-county matchups highlight the week for local varsity soccer teams. Andrews hosted Tri-County Early College, then Murphy hosted Andrews.
The week concluded with Tri-County hosting Andrews for their second meeting of the week.
The week kicked off with Andrews (3-7-1) hosting Tri-County Early College (0-9-1) on Oct. 6. The Wildcats came into the match looking to snap a four-game losing streak, while the Jaguars were looking for their first win of the season.
After 80 minutes of soccer, the Wildcats got the 2-1 win for their second win of the season. The Jaguars lost, but there was a silver lining – they got their first goal of conference play.
Tri-County’s lone goal came in the second half, when Daniel Bickham found the back of the net. Their one goal wasn’t enough, though, as Myca Mustin and Gabe Clark scored for Andrews en route to their 2-1 win.
Andrews played their second in-county matchup of the week when they faced Murphy (11-2-1) on Oct. 8.
Just 1:11 into the match, Jaden Rice scored to give Murphy an early 1-0 lead. About two minutes later, Nathan Johnson found the back of the net to extend their lead to 2-0.
With 22:48 left in the first half, Keaten Ritz scored on a penalty kick after an Andrews handball in the box to give the Dogs a 3-0 lead.
With 8:37 left in the first half, Tyler Payne scored from the top of the goalie box to give the Dogs a 4-0 lead heading into halftime.
The first goal of the second half was scored less than three minute in. On a penalty kick, Aaron Harger found the back of the net to extend their lead to 5-0.
With 1:26 remaining in the match, Johnson scored his second of the match to make the match 6-0.
The scored stood at 6-0 at the final buzzer as the Dogs earned their 11th straight shutout win.
Andrews and Tri-County were back in action Thursday as they played again, this time in Murphy. It was a hard-fought bout between the in-county rivals, as the match ended in a 2-2 draw after extra time.
It was a back-and-forth first half, with scoring chances from both sides. With one second remaining in the first half, Finlay Ross found the back of the net to give Tri-County a 1-0 lead heading into halftime.
Nine minutes into the second half, Andrews scored to make it 1-1. With 16:52 remaining, Ethan Barton scored to give Andrews a 2-1 lead. About five minutes later, Conner Arrowood headed the ball of a corner kick to tie the match 2-2.
The match remained tied through the closing minutes of regulation, as well as two 10-minute overtime halves. Both teams had scoring chances, but neither could break through for the win.
Murphy was also in action on Oct. 6, when they hosted Swain County (2-10-2). In their second straight matchup against the Maroon Devils, the Dogs won 2-0 to defeat them for the second time this season.
With the 2-0 shutout win, the Dogs extended their shutout streak to 10 games.
The Dogs scored their first goal on a corner kick with 13:33 remaining in the first half. Nathan Johnson took the corner and found Elijah Twiggs in front of the net. Twiggs buried the ball in the bottom left corner past Swain’s goalkeeper.
The second half was tense, as Swain tried its best to be the first conference team to score on Murphy, but was unsuccessful.
With 1:45 remaining in the second half, Andrew White was fouled in the Swain box, drawing a penalty kick for Murphy. Payne took the penalty kick and placed it in the bottom right corner past the Swain keeper to make it 2-0.
Payne’s late goal secured the victory and Murphy’s defense, as well as Cale Hager’s goalkeeping, preserved their shutout streak to the double-digit mark.
Up next
Today, Tri-County will host Summit Charter and Murphy will travel to Highlands. Both matches kick off at 6 p.m.
On Monday, Murphy will travel to face Summit Charter at 4:30 p.m., while Andrews will host Highlands at 6 p.m.