Cashiers (Special to the Maroon Devils Network) – The Maroon Devils Men’s Soccer Team traveled to Blue Ridge on Wednesday night for a conference match-up. The field had three inches of snow sitting on it on Monday, which made for a very muddy game on Wednesday. Sixteen minutes into the game, Swain would get on the scoreboard first when Sophomore Matthew Gray would find Sophomore Landon Matz for a goal. Two minutes later Senior Zachary Cline would find Matz for a second goal. With eight minutes left in the first half, Junior Gavin Lanning would find Cline for Swain’s third goal of the half putting them up 3-0.
The second half Blue Ridge would come out very quickly scoring just two minutes into the half off a corner kick. Three minutes later Blue Ridge would score once more, making the score 3-2 Swain. Swain would find their footing two minutes later when Matz would find Cline for his second goal. Six minutes after that Gray would score an unassisted goal. With eighteen minutes left in the game, Matz would find Junior Lucas Trantham for his first goal of the season. Matz would cap off the scoring with his third goal of the game off a pass from Cline with 8 minutes remaining. The Devils would take the 7-2 win over the Bobcats. “Overall we played a good game considering the field conditions.” said Head Coach Scott Cline. “We had adjusted during practices for the small field, but we were surprised by just how slick things were.”
On defense, Senior Booth Bassett led the way with 17 Clears/Steals, followed by Senior Anthony Reyes with 11, Senior Chase Burrell with 10, and Junior Levi Trantham with 7. In goal Junior Noel Wolf had 8 Saves. The Player of the Game for the Devils was Sophomore Landon Matz “Landon played a great game. He did a good job of not only scoring, but also getting the ball distributed.” said Cline.
The Devils host Highlands at 4:00 on Monday and will travel to Cherokee on Wednesday at 4:00. The Devils were scheduled to travel to Hayesville this past Monday, but that game will be rescheduled for later in the season. Currently the Devils are 2-1 overall and 2-0 in the conference.