MAYODAN — The St. Pauls boys soccer team lost 3-1 Monday at McMichael in the first round of the state playoffs.
The No. 9 Bulldogs (7-2-1) scored first, but No. 8 McMichael (7-6) scored three straight goals to earn the win.
“It was a sloppy loss,” St. Pauls coach Brent Martin said. “We scored first; Anthony Sosa scored probably within the first five or six minutes of the game.”
McMichael’s Norberto Nandin evened the score on a 40-yard free kick.
“Just a lofted ball, goes in over my keeper’s hands and underneath the crossbar,” Martin said.
Gabe Hernandez scored to give McMichael a 2-1 lead at halftime.
“We changed up some things to see if we could get a shot at it,” Martin said. “We came out well; those adjustments played well for us. But next thing you know they got a breakaway, our center back makes a tackle in the box that’s not clean, and it’s a penalty kick.”
Christian Joyce converted on that penalty kick with about 15 minutes remaining to make the Phoenix’ lead 3-1. St. Pauls missed on a couple of late opportunities to make the game closer.
“Sometimes you can play teams that have that heart and hustle; it doesn’t matter if they’re the most skillful players, if they have that heart and hustle, and we couldn’t match that,” Martin said.
Lady Pirates drop opener
The Lumberton girls soccer team opened its season with a 3-0 loss Monday at Hoke County.
The Bucks led the Pirates 1-0 at halftime.
“We competed and had some bright moments in the first half,” Lumberton coach Kenny Simmons said. “We seemed to run out of a little steam in the second half.”
The Pirates play Wednesday at Jack Britt.
Lumberton softball wins opener
The Lumberton softball team earned an 11-4 win over Hoke County in its season opener Monday in Raeford.
The Pirates scored in each of the first six innings of the win; they scored one run in the first and sixth innings, two each in the second, third and fifth, and three in the fourth. Hoke County scored two runs each in the sixth and seventh innings.
Lumberton outhit the Bucks 13-7. Both sides had three errors.
Freshman Aniya Merritt was 4-for-4 with a double for the Pirates; Nyiah Walker had three hits, including an inside-the-park homer, and two RBIs; August Smith and Syniah Lancaster both had two hits and an RBI; Nakiyah Hunt had a double and an RBI; Jaylyn Herndon doubled in her only at bat and had an RBI.
Freshman Halona Sampson threw a complete game with seven strikeouts to earn the win.
Alania Goins had three hits to lead Hoke County. Tamarah Lowery, who was the losing pitcher, had two hits and an RBI. Amia Carter had a triple.
Lumberton won the JV game 7-2.
Purnell Swett softball ekes out win
The Purnell Swett softball team held on for a 6-5 win in its season opener over Richmond Monday.
Purnell Swett scored two runs in the first and four in the fifth. Richmond scored three runs in the fourth, briefly taking a 3-2 lead, and then scored two runs in the seventh before running out of outs.
Summer Bullard pitched a complete game to earn the win with eight strikeouts. Paige Ransom took the loss for Richmond.
Marijo Wilkes led the Rams at the plate with three hits including a triple, an RBI and two runs scored. Chan Locklear had two doubles and two runs scored with an RBI. Bullard had a double and an RBI.
Ransom and Kenleigh Frye each had two hits for Richmond.
Purnell Swett plays Wednesday at Scotland.
