Wildcat soccer wins against Lowndes

The Enterprise boys soccer team won 5-1 against Lowndes, Georgia, in a home match.

"I thought for 30 minutes of each half, we played very well," EHS boys soccer coach Bruce Ladner said. "We had about a 10-minute stretch in the first half I wasn't really happy with, and probably the first 10 minutes of the second half I wasn't really happy with. Other than that, I thought we did play well."

After an early free kick was saved by Lowndes, Seth Eddis gave the Wildcats a 1-0 lead with 31:27 left in the first half.

Armando Gomez found the net just more than a minute later, and Enterprise had a 2-0 advantage.

"I thought the other team did a good job of taking away a lot of the stuff we really wanted to do," Ladner said. "Our first two goals were off of set pieces. When you score goals off of set pieces, it sure makes the game a lot easier. As the game wore on, we finally started finding some (holes) in their defense and we finally started getting through them. The first two goals were off of set pieces so that kind of set the tone for the game."

After a pair of clutch saves from EHS goalkeeper Adrian Weiss, the Wildcats were able to add to their lead.

The Lowndes goalie came far forward to stop a charging Sam Mazariegos, who took an assist from Kyle Samuel, shot the ball and it rolled into the empty net with 11:45 left in the first half.

"Sam has been playing very well for a freshman playing forward and playing varsity for the first time," Ladner said. "He's had some really close calls the last few games so I was glad to see him get that first goal. It took a bit of poise. It wasn't one you can just hit as hard as you can and hope it goes in. He had to control the ball and place it where he wanted it. He showed the patience to do that."

Lowndes got a goal with 1:47 to play before the break.

"Somehow the ball got played to our goalkeeper, and he actually caught the ball." Ladner said. "He told me it just slipped out of his hand and dropped. After he dropped it, one of their players was able to get a foot to it. It deflected off of the goalie and went in." 

Enterprise carried its 3-1 advantage into halftime.

Rasheed Bolaji sent a shot off of a Lowndes defender and into the net with 3:58 to play.

"Rasheed rounded one of their players, and was at a really tough angle," Ladner said. "He hit a really nice shot that was on goal. It would have gone in the goal. One of their players sort of dove to try to get in the way of it. It glanced off of their player and went in, but that would be credited as a goal to Rasheed because it was going in without the other player getting in the way."

The final goal came from Kelan LeBlanc, who deposited a shot into the net past the diving keeper to give the Cats a 5-1 advantage.

"I was glad to see something come of our possession," Ladner said. "The first 10 minutes of the second half, they outplayed us. They were giving us fits. Once we got that corrected we had control of the game, but we just weren't getting rewarded for it. In the last five minutes, we scored two goals. I was really happy to see the guys get rewarded for their hard work."

Weiss played the entirety of the match in the net for Enterprise.

"His distribution (of the ball) was really good," Ladner said. "He was very verbal back there controlling the defense, telling people where to go (and) who to cover. Other than that one bobble, I thought he had a very solid game."