The Long County Blue Tide soccer season is in full swing and on Thursday, February 27, they hosted their first region game of the home stretch. However, things did not go their way as both the girls and boys team lost to Calvary Day, with the girls falling 7-4 and the boys dropping a 4-3 decision.
The Cavaliers started off hot against the Lady Tide as they scored just 21 seconds in, getting an open look from outside the box to take an early 1-0 lead.
Just four minutes later, the Cavaliers got another look, this time on a breakaway. The shot was good as they went up 2-0 with 35 minutes left to go in the half.
The Lady Tide got on the board two minutes later as Makailah Quintero got a pass up to Myjah Fedon, who pushed it just past the keeper to make the score 2-1.
However, the Lady Cavaliers wasted little time extending their lead again as they scored less than a minute later to go up 3-1.
Calvary added two more goals in the final 10 minutes, the last one coming off a free kick.
Down 5-1 at the half, the Lady Tide knew they needed to make a comeback. Quintero nearly got it started early in the second half as her crossing pass to Macey Higgason was just off.
Quintero was good on her next attempt, however, as she scored in the 47th minute off a corner kick to make the score 5-2.
A Cavalier handball from just outside the box led to a Lady Tide free kick. Higgason made good on the kick as she booted in the shot to make the score 5-3 in the 58th minute.
In the 60th minute, the Tide set up another corner kick. Quintero’s pass went into Reese Davis who pushed in the shot, but she was called offsides, wiping off the goal.
However, just two minutes later, Quintero delivered another kick to Davis and she scored to make it 5-4, giving the home crowd a lot to cheer for.
The Cavaliers pulled away late in the half as a breakaway drew the keeper out of the box and gave Calvary an open look to make it 6-4.
In the 75th minute, the Cavaliers scored again to push the game out of reach.
The loss was the first on the season for the Lady Tide, who are 4-1 overall and 1-1 in the region.
The boys’ luck seem to be much different from the girls as they found themselves in an advantageous position early in the match.
In the first 26 minutes of play, the Tide found themselves up a hat trick as Connor Brown scored in the 12th minute and Taejuan Allen scored twice in the 16th and 26th minute.
In the final five minutes of the half, however, the Cavaliers cut well into the Tide’s lead. A penalty kick was good to make it 3-1 before a breakaway in the 37th minute made the score 3-2 at the half.
The Cavaliers tied the game on a breakaway in the 61st minute before Ismael Pina Sotelo made a leaping save to preserve the tie just five minutes later.
It looked like the game was going into overtime before the Cavaliers took a 4-3 lead and completed the rally with a header in the 77th minute.
With the loss, the boys fall to 3-2 and 0-2 in region play, coming off their first loss of the season on Tuesday, a 4-1 loss to Johnson.
Both teams were back in action on Friday, February 28 in a non-region matchup against Woodville-Tompkins with another home region matchup against Islands on Tuesday, March 4.