Cherokee – The Swain Maroon Devils soccer team traveled to conference rival Cherokee to play a rescheduled game on Friday. The Devils showed a strong performance from the beginning to the end against the Braves. Just six minutes into the game Sophomore Chase Burrell dribbled past a few defenders scoring the first goal of the game. Eight minutes later, Senior Trey Bowman found the back of the net off a pass from Junior Jonas Trejo. Bowman was not done as he found the back of the net once again eight minutes later off a pass from Burrell. Cherokee would add a goal of their own two minutes later making the score 3-1. Bowman would add to his hat trick five minutes later off a pass from Sophomore Dhruv Senghani. The teams would go into the half with the Devils winning 4-1. “We actually struggled in the first half with getting the ball moved around.” said Coach Scott Cline. “We made some adjustments at half time and came back out for a stronger second half.”
Junior Nate Brock added to the scoring seven minutes into the second half assisted by Sophomore Zachary Cline. Cherokee would add another score 30 seconds later. Just one minute later Cline would score a goal assisted by Burrell. Brock would add the final goal of the night for Swain 16 minutes into the second half. Cherokee would score one more time making the final score 7-3.
Offensive stat leaders were Trey Bowman (3 goals), Nathan Brock (2 goals), Zachary Cline (1 goal, 1 assist), Chase Burrell (1 goal, 1 assist), Dhruv Senghani (1 assist) and Jonas Trejo (1 assist). On the defensive side Junior Aiden Pond led the way with 8 clears, followed by Senior Brenden Ulaner with 7, Freshman Lucas Trantham with 6, and Senior Joey King with 4. In goal Sophomore Noel Wolf recorded 8 saves.
The Swain Player of the Game was Zachary Cline. “Zach did a really good job of controlling the middle of the field and getting the ball moved around.” said Cline. “Overall it was a good game. We played a much better second half than we did in the first half.”