LUMBERTON — Robinhio Tanis and Korbyn Walton have connected frequently in the final third of the field for the Lumberton soccer team this season.
The latest example came in Tuesday’s United-8 Conference tournament semifinal, when Tanis scored two goals, both assisted by Walton, in a 4-1 Pirates win.
Lumberton (19-4-1) will host Cape Fear for the tournament championship at 6 p.m. Wednesday in a matchup of the top two seeds.
“Coming into the season we know (Korbyn) was going to carry a lot of the offensive load, and he’s a threat no matter where you play him,” Lumberton coach Kenny Simmons said. “But around him, guys like Robinhio and Alexis (Adler), they’ve really come along of late, and you throw Emilio (Carrera) in the mix out at midfield and that’s a good mixture, that’s a potent offense right there. Those guys are starting to click a little bit together, so it was good to see and hopefully that’s going to be the way it is from here until the end of the season.”
Tanis scored his 16th and 17th goals of the season; Walton, who also has 17 goals, added assists No. 11 and 12.
“We’ve been playing for two years now, we play travel (soccer) and high school season together,” Tanis said. “I like playing with him, he’s a good player. He’ll be in the wing and cross it in, I’ll be in the box and finish. I give a big shoutout to him. Half of my goals, he’s assisted this season. I’m grateful to him, to play with him.”
The pair’s first connection came at a key moment in the first half, providing an equalizer after fifth-seeded Gray’s Creek (8-9-4) took an early lead. The Bears got a goal from Jadyn Gunther less than seven minutes into the match; the Pirates answered 3 1/2 minutes later when Tanis scored a short-range goal after service from Walton with 29:49 left in the half.
“It was important for the team to get a goal before the half ended, to start things, to build our confidence levels up before the first half ended,” Tanis said.
“That was a good response,” Simmons said. “In the game of soccer, it’s always tough when you give up that first goal, and give the other team, especially with them coming in not being the favorite, to get a little momentum and that puts a little wind in their sails. We responded really well and came back and got the goal, and that was a good response and we needed that.”
The rest of the half, though, played out somewhat evenly, and the score remained 1-1 at the break. Lumberton, though, was more dominant through the second half, striking for three more goals.
“It was a struggle,” Simmons said. “Coming in, we thought Gray’s Creek would give us a good game. Gray’s Creek is probably the most improved team in the league, and they’re young, I think they’re going to be a good squad in the future. So we had some struggles in first half. I thought the second half we came out and really controlled the play, and it was a matter of controlling the goals, and they really started coming there in the second half for us.”
Adler scored on a 12-yard shot, assisted by Josh Badillo, to give Lumberton a 2-1 lead with 35:35 left in the game. Emilio Carrera hit a penalty kick after he was fouled in the box with 9:46 left to extend the advantage to 3-1.
Walton and Tanis connected again with 1:16 left to put away the match; Gray’s Creek’s goalkeeper slipped when coming out to defend a Pirates attack, leaving an open goal as Walton passed to Tanis, who finished for the goal.
“Korbyn passed it to me and I just tapped it in to finish it,” Tanis said.
The loss ends the season for Gray’s Creek, who is currently 38th in the RPI rankings for the 4A East Region and is not expected to qualify for the 32-team state playoff regional field.
Lumberton, which has an automatic state playoff bid awaiting it next week after winning the regular-season conference championship, will now face Cape Fear for the United-8 tournament title. The teams split two regular-season meetings, with Cape Fear winning 2-0 at Lumberton on Sept. 3 and the Pirates winning 2-1 in Fayetteville on Sept. 25.
“We’re going to try to be ready,” Tanis said. “We’re going to give our heart out to go to war, to win that game, to win that trophy tomorrow.”
Sports editor Chris Stiles can be reached at 910-816-1977 or by email at cstiles@robesonian.com. You can follow him on X at @StilesOnSports.