The Spartans rounded off their season on senior night with another win, taking down the Midway Raiders. This gives the Spartans a good position, in third place, as the conference slate comes to a close. The loss left the Raiders in fifth.

The Spartans honored on Thursday’s Senior Night were Jeffrey Romero, Roberto Garcia, Michael Pineda, Arcenio Najera, and Irvin Depaz.

The first half consisted many good opportunities for a goal that neither team was able to capitalize on. Union would drive the ball down the field only to be pushed back by the strong Midway defense. Midway came extremely close to scoring twice, but Union keeper Cesar Ocampo kept the ball from the net. The first half ended in a score of 0-0.

The Spartans wasted no time in finding the net at the start of the second half. At the 36:47 mark, Richard Sevilla found the net from a kick at half-field. Union came back again only a little over two minutes later with a bicycle kick by Irvin Ocampo that went straight to the back of the net. David Moore assisted Ocampo with the score. This put the Spartans in the lead, 2-0 but the Raiders kept fighting. At the 17:18 mark, Midway came close to scoring only to bounce off the post in which keeper Cesar Ocampo saved yet again. The Raiders kept putting pressure on the Spartans and it finally paid off at 6:32 when Jose Martinez was able to score narrowing the gap in the score, 2-1. However, Midway was unable to find the net again before the clock ran out, giving the Spartans the win.

Midway head coach, Allen McLamb wasn’t too surprised by the outcome of the match. “Its like this every Union v Midway game; a hard fight. You never know what is going to happen and sometime sometimes we win and sometimes we lose,” McLamb said.

“It felt great to end the regular season with a win. Midway is a fantastic team and they have one of the best defenses in our conference, so I think playing a team of that caliber will benefit us going towards our playoff games,” Spartan coach, David Ameen said on the win. He went on to say how the team will prepare for the playoffs. “We’re just going to keep working on our passing drills and set pieces because I feel that is we could sharpen that facet in our game that we could make a good run for the championship,” he continued.

The Spartans overall season record stands at 17-3-0 while the Raiders fall to 9-10-2. The Spartans next game will be their first playoff match. Currently, Midway is waiting to find out if they will be able to join the playoffs.

By Anna Moore

Sports Writer

Spartan, Xavy Lazo outruns a Midway attacker for possession of the ball.
https://www.clintonnc.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_DSC_0797.jpgSpartan, Xavy Lazo outruns a Midway attacker for possession of the ball.