TIFTON — Tift County’s soccer teams are shaping up more and more each match. Tuesday night, each squad extended their win streak to two, the Lady Devils winning 4-3 against Ware County and the boys winning over the Gators, 1-0.
The Blue Devils are now 2-0-1 for the season, with the Lady Devils at 2-1. They jump into Region 1-6A play Friday at Lee County.
DEVILS 1, WARE 0
Sometimes luck works in their favor, said head coach Bobby Earls in the huddle after the match.
A goal 12 minutes into the match stood up the rest of the way. It was not off the foot of a forward, but defender Victor Hernandez.
“It was a great goal,” said Earls. Hernandez was in the right place at the right time, putting the right amount of power under the ball to clean up a long rebound.
Nothing else quite lined up offensively for Tift, including an Osvaldo Silos pass to a man on the run. Jayden Watts gave up his body for a diving header midway through the 1st half, but could not quite connect. Jordan Lopez also had a look at the net in that time.
Defensively, Tift sparkled.
Braylon Samuel had a clean sheet for the night, but needed a little help from his friends. A save went off his hands with seven minutes left in the 1st half, but Gio Rivera was there for a kick save.
Watts had a shot saved 10 minutes into the 2nd half, as well as shot on a Watts cross. Eric Palomares and Brock Harden had good looks at goal.
Samuel stayed solid in net, with another big play from a teammate to help. Ware was on a break late in the half before a sliding tackle out of nowhere knocked the ball away.
LADY DEVILS 4, WARE 3
“We dominated play,” said Sherri Constable of the victory, which wasn’t as close as the final score. Tift had a 4-1 lead until 7:30 left in the contest.
The Lady Devils scored two goals in each half. Laura Bautista netted the first, 13 minutes in, hitting the top shelf from about 30 yards out. Sigrid Martinez made it 2-0 15 minutes later, all alone on the left side of the net.
Amy Deleon scored to open the 2nd half, this time on a cross from Jordyn Shivers.
Ware got its first goal with 15:54 left on the clock, Before the Lady Gators could blink, Tift made it again a three-goal deficit when Shivers scored on a rebound of a shot by Amanda Tovar.
Two more goals for Ware went in during the final minutes, but the Lady Devils kept control to end the game, still firing on shots by Abby Goddard and Kyli Garretson.
Caroline Dotson and Martha Rodriguez each spent time in goal.