Bryson City (Special to the Maroon Devils Network) – The Maroon Devils Men’s Soccer Team hosted Madison on Wednesday night. Before the game a moment of silence was taken in honor of the 9/11 victims and the national anthem was sung by Amanda Carson. The Devils played the Patriots the first game of the regular season tying 2-2. It was a game filled with many Yellow cards, all given to the Madison Patriots.
Twelve minutes into the game the Patriots would get on the board first. With 7 minutes left in the first half the Patriots would get called for a pass back to the keeper. The Devils would get an Indirect kick inside the box. Junior Chase Burrel would drop the ball off to Junior Zachary Cline who would beat one defender and put the ball into the inside of the net for a goal for Swain. The score would be 1-1 at the half.
Just 15 minutes into the second half Madison would score once again putting them ahead 2-1. Swain would continue to attack in the second half, but just could not find the back of the net. “It was definitely a tough game for many different reasons.” said Coach Scott Cline. “We continue to see things that we need to work on before we get into conference play.”
In the game on defense, Senior Aiden Pond and Sophomore Lucas Trantham lead the way with 10 clears each, followed by Sophomore Levi Trantham with 8 and Senior Jonas Trejo with 6. In goal Junior Noel Wolf had 11 Saves.
The player of the game for the Devils was Sophomore Lucas Trantham. “Lucas has had two games in a row of playing some great defense.” said Cline. “He has really stepped it up when his team needed him.” The Devils next game will be Monday at 6:00 at Smoky Mountain High School and then they play at home on Wednesday at 6 against Brevard. The Devils are now 2-3-2 on the season.