Sometimes the bigger the stakes are, the biggest surprises arise.
Thursday night was just the second time that Orange men’s soccer hosted a state playoff game. It came against Seaforth in the round of 32 of the 5A State Playoffs.
The Panthers’ top scorers, Yurem Tapia, John Gomez and Dallas Johnson, all had their moments. But they didn’t score the game-winning goal.
That honor belonged to sophomore Eddy Gonzales, who took a free kick from Johnson amidst a scramble in the penalty area and sent a sizzling ground ball into the heart of the net.
It was the first goal of his varsity career.
Orange would secure insurance goals from Gomez and Tapia in the second half and go on to defeat Seaforth 4-1 in Hillsborough. For the first time ever, Orange will move on to the round of 16 in the state playoffs and face Montgomery Central in Troy on Monday night.
The Panthers avenged its only loss since September 10. The Hawks defeated Orange 2-1 on October 6.
It was Orange’s second win over Seaforth in eight days. On October 29, the Panthers never trailed in a 3-1 win in Pittsboro that secured the Big 7 Conference championship, Orange’s first conference title in the 38-year history of the program.
“I think we knew how good they were. That definitely helped,” said Orange coach Palmer Bowman. “We came out ready to roll. We knew what they were capable of.”
The Panthers have now won eight in a row. For comparison’s sake, two years ago, the Panthers won eight games the whole season.
Seaforth, which defeated Southern Guilford in the opening round on Monday night, ends the season 10-10-3.
Orange earned a school-record 18th win of the season, yet another milestone for the senior class of Gomez, Tapia, Johnson, Carson Condon, Logan Edwards, Jay Parker, Chris Lopez, Durvin Lopez and Gabe Yen. They’re broken the school record with 34 wins over the past two years.
While everyone wanted to parish the thought, it may have also been their final home game.
If it was, then the final goal couldn’t have been more apt. With eight minutes remaining in regulation, Orange junior goalkeeper Hector Garrido punted to midfield. Tapia was in a dead sprint and found the ball over his right shoulder, instantly triggering a 2-on-1 transition with Carter to his right. With a Seaforth centerback frantically trying to keep pace, Carter took a pinpoint pass from Tapia on his right leg and was tripped in the box. It was instantly called a penalty kick.
By this point, the temperatures had dipped below 50 degrees. Tapia was cold, as it was, but the term “freezing the penalty shooter” was taken to another level as he waited well over two minutes as officials sorted out a yellow card and various substitutions. Finally, Tapia fired the ball into the lower left corner of the net, then rushed to a huge throng of Panther faithful standing to the left of the home grandstand. It was his 12th goal of the season and the 33rd of his career.
Tapia scored the game-winning goal off a penalty kick last year in overtime against Swansboro, the first time ever that Orange men’s soccer hosted a state playoff game.
Orange opened the scoring in the seventh minute when junior Ajali Carter sent a cross into the heart of the box. Senior Carson Condon soared above everyone to get a clean header off into the left corner of the net past Seaforth goalkeeper Abel Williams.
Gonzales’s game-winner followed five minutes later.
Seaforth scored its only goal in the 44th minute. Off a corner kick, junior Jacob Wanderski hit Andreas Trinado, who registered his third goal of the year.
The Hawks controlled possession for much of the next ten minutes searching for the equalizer, but Orange finally found the counter they searched for in the 58th minute. Gomez took a pass on a transition opportunity and sent a fireball into the left side of the net. It was Gomez’s seventh goal in the last three games.
Last week, he had hat tricks at Seaforth and J.F. Webb.
