TIFTON — Tift County soccer opened the regular season with a tie and a loss, but both head coaches were pleased by what they saw Tuesday night.
The Blue Devils fought to a 1-1 draw with Perry, with the Lady Panthers winning a 4-2 battle over Tift’s girls.
Lady Devils leader Sherri Constable was happy with the 2nd half, which saw Tift score two goals to Perry’s one.
“We have a lot of juniors and seniors, but we don’t have a lot of experience,” said Constable. “The more we play, the better we’re going to get with experience.”
Boys head coach Bobby Earls said he was pleased with his team’s defense. Tift was a very young squad in 2023 and are still young, but he feels they are on the cusp of cashing in all the experience they gained a season ago.
One of the players especially impressing Earls on opening night was Omar Acosta, who was a last-minute emergency starter.
“I thought he did brilliantly,” Earls said.
Neither team scored in the first 40 minutes. Tift controlled the ball most of the half and had several opportunities to dent the scoreboard.
Juan Rodriguez and Osca Peña Martinez had shows saved in the first three minutes. Brock Harden and Jordan Lopez had looks at the net, before unluckiest shot of them all. Rodriguez sent a ball off the bottom of the crossbar that bounced back into the field of play.
Braylon Samuel played a spotless goal in the few opportunities he faced in the 1st half.
Near the end of the period, Jayden Watts’ attempt was saved and Cristian Salazar was wide left. Another potential chance, a run by Austin Elizalde was halted with 95 seconds remaining.
Bad luck started off the 2nd half.
Eric Palomares had a free kick blocked by Perry’s wall and, 10 minutes in, a Panthers free kick went off the top of Samuel’s glove, grazed the crossbar and into the net.
The Blue Devils rebounded quickly, however.
A Samuel goal kick to midfield turned into a pass into the open ahead. Elizalde was the only blue jersey in the area. He beat a defender to the loose ball and, seeing the Perry keeper playing way in front of his box, was able to fire a shot past him into the net.
With 27:10 remaining, the Devils had a 1-1 tie.
Lopez had a shot saved with seven minutes remaining. Samuel rose to the occasion the rest of the way, including a huge moment in the closing seconds when Perry had a corner kick. Samuel and the Tift defense held firm to preserve the tie.
PERRY 4, LADY DEVILS 2
The 1st half was not ideal for Tift. Perry was up 3-0 at the break with goalkeeper Diana Reducindo very busy in stopping shots. Laura Bautista had a fine defensive play to stop what looked to be a sure Perry goal in another instance.
Perry had gotten past Reducindo, but Bautista sprinted to kick out a split-second before the ball crossed the goal line.
It was a completely different Lady Devils crew in the 2nd half, much more active on offense and a wall on defense. Midway through the half, they posted their first goal of the 2024 regular season.
With a man on, Perry kicked out rather that attempt a run. A throw-in went to Yareli Espinoza who booted a beautiful pass to a wide open Amanda Tovar in front of goal. Tovar did the rest, with a goal into the right side of the net.
The Lady Panthers added their fourth goal, but Tift had one more score in them.
Jordyn Shivers was fouled in the goal box and scored on a penalty kick to make the score 4-2.
Tift County hosts Cook Friday in non-region action.