Murphy – The Tri-County Early College men’s soccer team lost their first home game to Summit Charter 3-1 in a back-and-forth match.
In their third match of the season, the Jaguars (1-3) played a tough game that could have gone either way on Sept. 4.
The match began with both teams trading possession of the ball. With 17:07 remaining in the first half, Summit Charter (2-1) got a penalty kick. Jaguars goalkeeper Julian Arvizu blocked the initial shot, but Summit buried it on the rebound to take a 1-0 lead.
In the final minutes of the first half, Summit Charter scored again after putting the ball in the top corner past the keep to take a 2-0 lead heading into halftime.
At 3:08 into the second half, Tri-County’s Mason Smith scored his first career goal. Andrew White shot the ball, which slipped through the keeper’s hands, and Smith knocked it in to make it a one-goal match.
About 10 minutes later, Summit got another penalty kick, which they scored to make it 3-1.
Throughout the match, both teams had scoring chances, but Summit’s penalty-kick goals evaluated them to the win. Tri-County’s Arvizu made multiple big saves that stopped their loss from being by a bigger margin. Arvizu made 12 saves on 15 shots; on the season, Arvizu has a 0.600 save percentage with 41 total saves.
After the match, Tri-County head coach Chris Blanton said, “I think they played really well. I think they played a team that’s equal to them … there was attacking on both sides, and it was an evenly played game, but there were a couple of calls that were the difference in the game.”
Blanton mentioned Smith as someone who played well and got his first goal, as well as a nice assist from White. He also gave props to Connor Arrowood, who played center back for the first time, and said goalkeeper Arvizu “came to play.”
To prepare for Smoky Mountain Conference matchups this week, Blanton said the Jaguars won’t need to change much, but they will work on their composure. Their next match is today against cross-county rival Andrews (0-1) on David Gentry Field at Murphy High School. Kickoff is at 6 p.m. After that, they are on the road at Hayesville on Monday, Sept. 16, at 4 p.m.