Arlington Martin slips past North Crowley 3-2
Published 4/6/2011 6:21:03 AM by staff from star-telegram
It's a popular myth that one of the toughest things to do in sports is beat a team three times in a season. The Arlington Martin boys soccer team will attest to that, though the Warriors were able to keep their season alive with another hard-fought victory over North Crowley. Martin capitalized on more chances for a 3-2 victory Tuesday night in a Class 5A Region I regional quarterfinal at Pennington Field.
"In District 4-5A we would go back and forth every game," Martin coach Cory Elolf said. "... We knew coming into this one it wasn't going to be much different. It was fun and exciting."
Martin (22-3-2) faces Plano, a 1-0 winner over Colleyville Heritage Friday at Midland's Grande Communications Stadium in a regional semifinal.
Martin's persistence finally paid off at the 5:05 mark of the opening half after a clearance from North Crowley landed at the feet of Martin defenseman Michael Martz. Martz lifted the ball into the middle of the box, where the ball was met by Warriors midfielder Chris Turner and North Crowley goalie David Henley. The two collided and Martin's Jacob Stevens poked the ball into the open net for a 1-0 lead.
North Crowley fought back to tie the game at the 2:34 mark on a corner kick by Jacob Starr. Martin recaptured the lead seven minutes into the second on a perfectly placed pass from Chris Hale to Tanner Simpson, who beat Henley to the right post for a 2-1 lead.
North Crowley's Diego Sanchez had a golden opportunity to tie the game at the 27:00 mark, but pushed the ball just past the left post.
"That was basically the game changer," Elolf said. "The wind kind of went out of their sails when they had looks inside the 6 yard box. They played a great game. We just worked harder and got it done."
Label: Arlington Martin soccer, Jacob Starr, Michael Martz, Jacob Stevens
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