A pair of defenders crash on Midway’s Max Florido.
Daron Barefoot|Sampson Independent
Midway’s Holden Register gives chase to a ball down the sideline.
Daron Barefoot|Sampson Independent
Raider Josua Santillan looks to turn and fire a shot toward the goal.
Daron Barefoot|Sampson Independent
It was the conference finale for the Midway soccer team Wednesday night as the Raiders looked to capture a second-place finish in league play. Visiting Spivey’s Corner was St. Pauls, who Midway edged out 1-0 in the two teams’ last meeting. This time, though, it was a little bit more cushioned win for the Raiders as they claimed a 4-2 victory.
Midway wasn’t messing around this time, as they captured a quick goal out of the gate. Jayden Espino-Diaz won the race to a loose ball and caught the Bulldogs goalkeeper out of position, getting a wide-open goal. With 37:57 on the clock in the first half, Midway had an early 1-0 lead.
A couple minutes later, the Raiders had a couple of looks at extending their lead. A corner throw-in and a corner kick placed a pair of balls right out front of the net, but St. Pauls was able to bat them away to maintain the 1-0 tally.
Just before the clock ticked below 30:00, the Bulldogs got some offense going and a couple peaks at the goal for themselves. The Midway defenders, though, came away with timely blocks and turned the ball away to generate a quick run-out. Neither team broke through and the clock continued to roll on the 1-0 score.
Suddenly, the Raider offense got cranked up again as they began to apply persistent pressure. They got several consecutive shots on goal but they couldn’t quite sneak one by the keeper.
After a long battle that spanned the length of the field, Midway finally caught another break, once again thanks to the Bulldogs’ goalkeeper. The keeper was out of position, playing a ball just inside the left side of the box. Having been beaten to a loose ball, the keeper shoved Midway’s Max Florido in the back, who was awarded a one-on-one penalty kick. With 12:47 left in the half, Florido won that battle and put the Raiders up 2-0.
Midway thought they had extended their lead again at the 6:04 mark but the center referee and the line judge nearest the play convened and ruled no goal without explanation. As such, the clock continued to tick with the 2-0 score.
Then at the 4:14 mark, the lead undoubtedly extended as Max Florido connected on a long-range shot, making it 3-0 Midway. That proved to be the tally as the teams broke for the intermission.
Very quickly at the start of the second half, the Raiders struck again. With 39:20 displayed on the clock, it was Joshua Santillan getting onto the stat sheet, stretching Midway’s lead to 4-0.
With their backs firmly against the wall, St. Pauls turned on their offense. They suddenly looked like the more motivated team as they picked up the intensity, getting regular pressure on the Raiders’ defense. They couldn’t find the net, though, and time was quickly becoming Midway’s 12th man.
The Bulldogs, though, did get one through finally as a high-arcing ball floated over the head of Raider goalkeeper Keller Godwin, making it 4-1 with 22:00 to go in the game. The intensity had certainly shifted as cries of “pick it up” rang out from the Midway faithful.
Then at the 18:47 mark, tensions were getting high as a hard foul resulted in a red card for Midway’s Angel Godinez. What looked to be just a hard play suddenly led to a PK and Godinez’s disqualification. St. Pauls converted the PK, benefiting from a deflection to now make it 4-2 with 18:42 remaining.
Things settled down after that, though, and the clock continuously ran. No more scoring transpired and the Raiders trotted off in victory by the 4-2 final score.
With the win, Midway is now 14-4-1 overall and wraps up SAC-6 play at 6-2. With the season extended by one week, the Raiders picked up one final non-conference game next week when they host Spring Creek on Monday.