The Cambridge Boys Soccer team ended their 2017 regular soccer season while establishing a club record 12th win Friday night, April 21st with a 1-0 win over Lambert. It was Senior Night for the Longhorns. The program has never seen 12 wins, including playoffs, and in a season of firsts has established yet another team standard for future teams to chase.
The only score in the game came halfway through the final period. Still seeing red from a previously hard foul that knocked Jarvin Ramirez on his hiney, Ramirez laced a see thru-ball through multiple Longhorn defenders into the box to find the magic man John Crawley. He did what he has been doing all year, by adding to his team lead in scoring, when "poof" he found the back of the net. This completed his trick for what would be the game winner, when the clock stood still 20 minutes later.
Coach Wallace felt that this was a really hard game for his team after coming off a very physical contest on Wednesday vs. Chattahoochee, then two days later having to face a very good Lambert team. Lambert had only lost 3 games on the year and had won the region five 7A title just 3 days prior. Wallace commented, "We came into tonight vs. a great Lambert team and we got a 1-0 win at their place and we need to ride this into the playoffs." Wallace was really excited with Goalie Nic Sides, who was outstanding in goal Friday night, stopping multiple Longhorn shots throughout the night. Wallace stated "Nic came off the bench tonight after not getting a lot of time recently and pitched a shut out against a very good Lambert team who just won their region. Nic did a heck of a job and he's one of the reasons why we have had such a successful season. You can take guys like Nic and plug them in and he pitches a shutout."
The Bears will now begin preparing for their second season with the state playoffs beginning on Thursday night, April 27th.
The Bears will travel to Tri-Cities High School for a 7:30 kickoff. Tri-Cities finished 2nd in region 5 with a 10-4 record on the season. Cambridge finished the season ranked 6th in the state; however the team is looking to improve on that year end ranking by making a deep playoff run in the state tournament.
Go Bears!
State playoff dates:
April 28th - Round of 32
May 3rd - Sweet 16
May 6th - Elite 8
May 9th - Final 4
May 12-13th - Finals
