LAKE WACCAMAW – Junior Greyson Heustess recorded a ‘Hat Trick’ of 3 goals Monday night to lead East Bladen to a 9-0 Three Rivers Conference men’s soccer victory over East Columbus.
Heustess was also credited with an assist in the match. Senior Caleb Hatchell racked up 2 goals and an assist for the Eagles. Junior Pierce Melvin fired in 2 goals, and senior Brooks McGill dished out 3 assists.
Sophmore Gabe Barber was credited with 2 assists and a goal. Sophmore Jake Evans and freshman Garrett Melvin added one goal each for the winners.
In the third minute, Evans booted a corner kick to Gabe Barber who laid the ball off to Pierce Melvin who drilled the ball past the keeper from 16 yards out.
“We went into a bit of a lull but would make some good defensive plays in the back,” said Eagle Coach Jay Melvin. “Then we turned that defense into offense.” In the 12th minute, Gabe Barber hurled a throw-in to Pierce Melvin who boomed in another goal from 16 yards out.
In the 30th minute Heustess turned a feed from Hatchell into his first goal. Minutes before halftime Hatchell buried a pass from McGill into the back of the net.
Twelve minutes into the second half the Eagles scored 3 goals in 3 minutes. Heustess banged in the rebound of a shot for his second goal. Two minutes later McGill set up Gabe Barber for a goal off of a free kick from 28 yards out. Less than a minute later Heustess found Garrett Melvin who, “tucked a nice shot into the top right corner of the goal from just inside the 18 yard box,” according to Raynor.
Heustess finished off his hat trick with a goal off of a McGill corner kick in the 62nd minute. Evans tallied the goal that ended the game on the mercy rule in the 78th minute. “Jake jumped a pass and beat the keeper 1-on-1,” noted Raynor.
“We started sluggish but got better as the day went on,” stated Coach Raynor. “Brooks came off the bench for us tonightand made an immediate impact when he went in. He orchestrated some nice attacks for us and finished with 3 assists.”
“Jake had another solid showing for us and wins balls all the time,” continued Raynor. “Caleb had an extremely good night. He was focused and made big plays. Gabe had a stellar night in the midfield. He seemed more relaxed and moved the ball very well for us. The ball moved more left and right and moved their players. We attacked space and didn’t force the issue.”
Tatum went on to praise Dan Tatum, Keshaun Davis, Ezequiel Arteaga and Spencer Scott. “They were their usual selfs making big plays when they had too. Those guys are doing a great job in the back for us. They are hard to break down and have a great understanding of each other and how they play.”
Raynor also praised the play of Heustess and Pierce Melvin saying, “Greyson had a good night and it was nice to seem him put his chances away. Pierce seemed to ratchet things up as the game went on.”
“We also had some great contributions from Jacob Hatchell and B. J Monroe,” said Coach Raynor. “Both made some big stops for us defensively and also got involved in the attack once they got on the ball. Jay McKoy and Milton Estrada came up from JV tonight and fit right in. Jay was on the brink of scoring several times. Milton gave us some quality minutestonight.”
“We made much better decisions tonight,” concluded Raynor. “We didn’t panic and got our heads up to find the space for our players. Overall I was proud of the guys, and we got more quality play from almost all of our players.”
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