Patton soccer wins on senior night

Panthers soccer shuts out Burns

By: Bill Bailey | Morganton News Herald
Published: October 22, 2009

Morganton --

A large crowd came out to Catawba River Soccer Complex on Wednesday evening to honor Patton High's nine seniors who were participating in their final regular season home soccer game as Panthers.
When the action started, it was appropriate for two seniors to each score a goal in the 2-0 Patton victory over a tough defensive group of Bulldogs from Burns. With 23 minutes left in the first half, senior Caleb Harbison took an assist from Adam Buchanan and scored the eventual game winning goal, and gave the Panthers at 1-0 lead.
With 7:42 left until intermission, senior co-captain Oscar Velasquez blasted a 35-yard rocket into the upper right corner of the goal to finish the scoring for the evening.
The second half turned into a scoreless defensive battle. Burns goalkeeper Jake Dew played an exceptional game, knocking away several Patton shots.
Patton goalkeeper Jake Duncan posted his second straight conference shut out.
"We played well tonight," Patton coach Keith Scott said.
He saw his troops go to 11-6-3 overall and 6-1-3 in the SMAC 7.
"Freshman Stephen Bridges played a excellent game for us in the back, while Galen Keene has stepped up and really played well with several guys out with injuries," Scott said. "It was nice for two seniors, Caleb Harbison and Oscar Velasquez to pick up our scores on senior night. Jake Duncan is playing with a lot of condidence in the box, and the entire team looked good and played well together. We had some nice ball movement tonight, and everyone got to play. Burns put up a good fight, as they played a strong defense and their goalkeep had some nice saves."
Patton has two games left in the regular season. It plays at Shelby on Saturday and against old foe Freedom at the Catawba River Soccer Complex on Wednesday.
Shelby has wrapped up the 2A top seed out of the SMAC. Patton has two ties with R-S Central and a tie with the Patriots to go along with the two wins against Burns to give it a 2-0-3 record in the 3A chase.
Before the contest, Cody Memmel, three-year starter and 2009 captain; Velasquez, three-year starter and 2009 captain; Ethan Smith, two-year varsity starter; Harbison, two-year varsity player; Galen Keene, two-year varsity player; Fritz Rowland, two-year varsity player; Charly Miguel, first-year varsity player; and Tony Nivanh, first-year varsity player were honored.
In the JV contest, the Panthers defeated the Freedom JV's 1-0 on an Erik Francisco goal.