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Maroon Devil Kale Stephenson fends off a Bobcat player.
Michael O’Hearn
editor@crossroadschronicle.com
The Swain County Maroon Devils’ dreams of advancing in the soccer playoffs were dashed Tuesday night after the Blue Ridge Bobcats of Cashiers defeated them in a thrilling, double overtime match, 2-1.
The first half of the game passed without a goal on either side, making this first round game of the playoffs a second half match.
At 34:17 in the second half, Blue Ridge Bobcat Braulio Iglesias Loma landed the first goal of the match, which was followed by a goal from Swain County Maroon Devil Clayton Shuler at 31:26.
Shuler made the goal as Blue Ridge goalie Manny Magana was distracted by an injury.
Back and forth the two teams battled to try to edge out their opponents, but the game went into its first overtime with a score of 1-1.
During the first, 10-minute overtime session, neither team was able to score another goal needed to win.
The war continued during the second overtime, this time a five-minute round of play. With 1:03 left, Blue Ridge senior Junior Soriano Diaz was given a solo penalty kick against Swain County goalie Cameron Phillips. Soriano Diaz snuck the ball into the goal on the left side of the net, propelling the Bobcats to a 2-1 victory over the Maroon Devils.
Swain soccer ended their impressive season with 11-3 in the conference, 11-11 overall.