Staff report

 

SALISBURY — Salisbury is still undefeated.

Salisbury is still meeting every challenge.

Salisbury is still alive in the 2A soccer state playoffs.

The third-seeded Hornets (23-0-2) won 1-0 on Monday in the third round against 11th-seeded Pine Lake Prep to advance to Thursday’s regional semifinal against Community School of Davidson at Spartan Park in Huntersville. The game starts at 7 p.m.

Carlos Henriquez scored Monday’s lone goal on a free kick.

“This one was a big deal, truly it was,” Salisbury coach Matt Parrish said. “We’re in an era of 2A soccer that’s different, with more of these tough preps and academies and charters all over the bracket. There was a time when you knew Charlotte Catholic was looming out there, but now there are so many good teams. Pine Lake Prep is an 11 seed, but plays in an incredibly tough conference. We beat an outstanding team. They were smart. They were organized. They were well put together. They had a size advantage. They were the biggest challenge we’ve faced so far, but tonight we were the best that we’ve been.”

Parrish said the Hornets were quiet before the match. He wasn’t sure how to read that. He didn’t know if they were nervous or nonchalant or just unusually focused.

He does know they were lucky to withstand the opening minutes because PLP came at them with a flurry. The Pride hit the cross bar right off. There were near-misses. Bullets were dodged.

“They had a kid that could throw it incredibly long, and he’d put it right in the goal mouth,” Parrish said. “We got an incredible game from our back line — Yatti Avilez, Mario Perez, Mohammed Jabateh and Robert Moulton. Moulton played the best game he’s ever played for us. He won so many balls.”

After surviving that shaky start, the Hornets turned the tide and had more chances. It was still scoreless at the half, but three players PLP (14-7-2) had been shown yellow cards.

The Hornets’ goal came with about 25 minutes left on the scoreboard at Ludwig Stadium.

“Carlos scored on a set piece,” Parrish said. “They had their wall set up where they wanted it, but he beat the wall and then he beat the keeper. Perfect shot to the right of the keeper, and then there was bedlam.”

The Hornets didn’t get too full of themselves with the lead. They still had to finish.

Pine Lake Prep went a man down for a second yellow with about 10 minutes left, but still kept the pressure on.

Salisbury maintained the shutout with heroics by keeper Finnegan Avery, who made a couple of dazzling saves in the final 90 seconds.

“There at the end, it was a cluster of bodies, everyone firing shots,” Parrish said. “More shots hit the cross bar, and Finnegan made big-boys saves. He made some man-saves.”

Parrish had never seen Hines Busby get tired before, but Busby was exhausted. This was a different kind of night. He’d run around like a man with his hair ablaze.

Parrish finished the evening screaming happily and with his cell phone glowing wildly, blowing up with all the people trying to call him.

He laughed about the fire-engine tint to his newly dyed hair and relished the game.

“The best thing about tonight was we had 80 minutes of composure,” Parrish said. “A call went against us, we didn’t pout, we didn’t fuss at the ref, we played on. If someone messed up, we picked them up and kept playing. That was the only way we were going to win this match, and our guys deserve all the credit in the world for winning it. I’ve walked off the field feeling good about a lot of matches in my career, but I’ve never felt more pride in any team than I felt when this one was over. This was a huge, huge win for our program.”

It will got harder, not easier, in the regional semifinals.

Next, on Thursday, is a date with second-seeded Community School of Davidson, the team that won Pine Lake Prep’s conference.

The Hornets will travel to Community School of Davidson (20-2-1) to play on their turf field. It will be the first playoff road this season for the Hornets.

The Spartans of Community School were down 2-0 at halftime at home on Monday against seventh-seeded Newton-Conover but stormed back for a 3-2 win.

Lincoln Charter, the third-place team from Pine Lake Prep and Community School’s league, advanced to a regional semifinal, along with the top-seeded Owen team from the Black Mountain area.