LUMBERTON — The Robeson County high school sports community has come together over the years for county-wide tournaments in boys and girls basketball, wrestling, baseball and softball.
Now, for the first time, the county’s four boys soccer programs will come together for the Robeson Cup.
The inaugural tournament, postponed from earlier this month after Hurricane Dorian, will be played the next two Saturdays. The first round matches — Purnell Swett vs. St. Pauls and Lumberton vs. Red Springs — will take place Saturday at Lumberton, and the championship and third-place matches will be Sept. 28 at St. Pauls.
All parties involved are excited about the first-time event.
“I think it’s cool,” St. Pauls coach Brent Martin said. “It’s good to get the four county teams involved, and maybe one day we can even invite some other teams in. The county’s been needing to do it, they do it for all the other sports. I’m an advocate for anything that involves growing the game of soccer in Robeson County. You get all four sets of fans, and it creates an atmosphere.”
“I think it’s a great thing, bringing all the high school soccer programs together at one venue to showcase the talent that’s in the county,” Purnell Swett coach Alaric Strickland said.
In helping determine Robeson County’s best, the tournament will naturally be a source of bragging rights for the winning team.
“A lot of the kids know each other, played against and with each other in the offseason,” Lumberton coach Kenny Simmons said. “So bragging rights are always on the line when you’re playing in-county opponents. I think we’re at that level now where some of the programs have grown to a point where I think it’s going to be a really competitive tournament.”
The matchups the tournament presents will allow for teams that haven’t met often to see each other. For the two 2A schools participating, Red Springs and St. Pauls, also presents the chance to play up to 4A competition in Lumberton and Purnell Swett.
“I think it’s a good opportunity to get a chance to play against some schools we normally wouldn’t see during our season, especially with playing against Lumberton we get a chance to see better competition, at a higher level, at a 4A level, than what we get,” Red Springs coach William Judd said.
St. Pauls will face Purnell Swett in the tournament opener Saturday at 5:30 p.m.
The Bulldogs are 2-2 on the season and 2-1 in Three Rivers Conference play after topping Whiteville 2-0 on Wednesday.
Martin expects that, given the Bulldogs’ and Rams’ respective results against Whiteville, the match could be very competitive.
“That’ll be an interesting match,” Martin said. “Whiteville beat Purnell 2-0 and then lost 4-3, so you don’t know what it’s going to be. It could be a very even match.”
The Rams (4-6, 2-2 Sandhills Athletic Conference) are coming off a 4-1 victory at Seventy-First in their last outing, and are looking for consistency and togetherness.
“(The key will be) us playing quick and fast, and under control, and being one as a team and not trying to do anything as individuals,” Strickland said.
In Saturday’s nightcap, Lumberton will face Red Springs at approximately 7:30 p.m.
Lumberton (5-4, 2-2 SAC) enters with the most wins in the county, but lacking offensive consistency, Simmons says.
“We haven’t been the best offensive team over the course of the season,” Simmons said. “It’s been a struggle; we haven’t scored a large number of goals against quality competition. But that’s soccer, and it’s not always as easy as it looks to find the back of the net.”
Simmons expects Red Springs (2-1, 2-1 TRC) will be motivated against a larger school, while Judd says teamwork and defense will be key for the Red Devils.
“(We need to) play together, play as a unit, to move the ball quickly and to play good defense,” Judd said.
The two first-round winning teams will meet in the championship on Sept. 28, while the losers will play for third place.
