It was better late than never for the Orange men’s soccer team in its first trip to Northern Durham’s new on-campus facility.
Thanks to some late heroics, the Panthers are now off to its best start since 2010.
After assisting on the game-tying goal in the 81st minute, junior Demetrius Holmes scored the game-winning goal with two minutes remaining in regulation as the Panthers defeated the Knights 2-1 last Wednesday.
After winning its final tuneup before the Central Conference opener, the Panthers are 5-2. Orange last started 5-2 in 2010, when they were a 2A team.
Northern scored its only goal just before halftime. William Mejia chipped in a pass from sophomore Derrick Corea to give the Knights the lead going into halftime.
Holmes scored in first varsity goal on August 28 against Eno River Academy. Brendan McDonald scored evened the game off a feed from Holmes, which was his first varsity assist.
Holmes scored the game-winning goal off a rebound. Sophomore Hector Garrido earned his fifth win, stopping four shots.
Orange has won three in a row going into its conference opener against Western Alamance on Wednesday night in Hillsborough. The Warriors recently added former Cedar Ridge All-Conference midfielder Dominic McNerney to its roster. McNerney has opened the year with eight goals and six assists for the Warriors, who are 6-1.
Cedar Ridge 2, Eno River Academy 0: Four weeks into the season, the Cedar Ridge men’s soccer team hasn’t played a home game and lost its top player to Western Alamance two days before the opener.
Last Tuesday, the Red Wolves found reason to believe when they defeated Eno River Academy 2-0 at soccer.com Soccer Complex in Efland. Niko James, who scored Cedar Ridge’s first goal of the season in a loss to Carrboro, scored the Red Wolves’ first game-winning goal of the season off an assist from Andy Tarija.
Rodrigo Arellano added another goal off an assist from Noah Koehler. Erik Galunas made five saves for his first clean sheet of the season.
Cedar Ridge will start Central Conference play at Person in Roxboro on Wednesday night.