Yurem Tapia Mendez’s senior night would have been special enough without a highlight reel goal. But he scored one, anyway.
With 1:41 remaining in the first half against Durham School of the Arts on Wednesday night, Mendez took a pass from sophomore Jesse Alder outside the box. Mendez put the ball between DSA defender Dimitri Thomas legs. DSA’s Ryan Bejar and William Aguilar joined Thomas to attempt to force a takeaway, but Mendez shifted left, then right, then left again and found a small sliver of opening to fire a shot by goalkeeper Dominic Pedde.
It was a gorgeous goal that was the perfect metaphor for an Orange senior class that has taken Panther soccer to a new level of success.
The Panthers defeated DSA 5-0 in its final regular season home match of the year. Orange goes into the final week of the season in first place in the Big 7 Conference with a 9-1 record, one game ahead of Carrboro. Now 15-5 overall, Orange is one win away from tying the school record for most wins in a season, set by last year’s team that finished 16-6.
Orange scored four goals in the final ten minutes of the first half. In the 32nd minute Brendan McDonald sent a high cross into the box that was dropped by the DSA goalkeeper. Jesse Petrides won a scramble for the ball and chipped it in for the second Panther goal.
In the 34th minute, Petrides moved deftly into the penalty area that led to a corner kick. Menez’s corner found senior captain Dallas Johnson, who rolled it in from six yards away with 6:18 remaining in the first half.
With time running out in the first half, Mendez sent a long ball to Carson Condon, who found himself in a race with Pedde and the clock, as well. Condon’s speed was too much and he chipped the ball over the head of Pedde and the ball rolled eight yards into the net with :1.8 seconds left.
There were no goals in the second half. Junior goalkeeper Hector Garrido earned his sixth clean sheet of the season.
Orange will travel to J.F. Webb in Oxford on Monday, then wrap up the regular season against Seaforth in Pittsboro on Wednesday. With a win against Webb, the Panthers would wrap up a share of the conference championship. With two wins, they would take the conference title outright.
