Staff report

TYRO — Salisbury’s boys soccer team bounced back from its first defeat of the season with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Central Carolina Conference rival West Davidson on Thursday night.

Salisbury got off the bus a much more focused team and controlled the early action, creating several scoring opportunities in the first 10 minutes.
However, it was West Davidson that scored first.

Salisbury leveled the match nine minutes later when Will Webb converted a pass from Colin Donaldson.

Then, with less than a minute remaining in the first half, Leonardo Fragoso found the feet of Christopher Portillo who played a ball to a streaking Donaldson in the offensive half of the field. Donaldson scored with just 22 seconds left in the half, which proved to be the difference in the match.

“Both teams were coming off of back-to-back matches, playing a third match in as many days,” Salisbury head coach Matt Parrish said. “After being humbled a bit (Wednesday) it was a very encouraging sign to see the resiliency my guys showed tonight. They were frustrated by our inability to score, but they kept their heads in it and played a much more focused, cerebral match. I’m exceptionally proud of all of them and believe this is a big step going forward.”

Next up for the Hornets is defending CCC champion Leford on Monday night. Game time is 5 p.m.