Hough, South Mecklenburg find plenty to build on during 1-1 tie in boys’ soccer

Everybody got something from Hough’s 1-1 draw with host South Mecklenburg Thursday.

Both sides remained unbeaten after the nonconference match, but perhaps more important, each school earned something to build upon.

Hough (7-0-2) and No. 1 in the state coaches’ poll, earned the deadlock on A.J. Whisenant’s goal in the 69th minute.

“I don’t look at it as escaping a loss,” Huskies coach David Smith said. “We left a couple of goals at the end. They had the run of play early in the game, but at the end we kept our heads a little bit and focused on what we were trying to accomplish.”

South Mecklenburg (6-0-1), which is No. 5, took the initiative for long stretches, exploiting its ball handling and quickness to force Hough to play at its pace. The tide turned after intermission as Hough took a more aggressive approach.

“That had a lot to do with their pressure, but it also had to do with us not quite handling it as well as we practice and we preach,” Sabres coach Eric White said. “We talk about handling pressure. I think we got away from how we play.”

South Meck controlled the first half by pressing the attack early. The Sabres launched three shots on frame in the first 10 minutes, but Hough keeper Liam Dolaher was up to the task, including a save at point-blank range to keep the Huskies even. Hough countered with a couple of goal opportunities of its own, but couldn’t convert against goalkeeper Harish Amatya.

“For some reason, we play better in the second half,” Smith said. “I sub more in the first half this season than I’ve ever done because we’re deeper than we have been, just to keep us fresh for the second half, and I think that helped us tonight.”

Reed Hunnicut pushed South Mecklenburg in front with a rebound in the 25th minute after Dolaher smothered his initial volley. Midfielder Marco Garcia, who was especially efficient in sparking the Sabres attack, slid a pass to Hunnicut who chipped the ball home when it leaked out of Dolaher’s grasp.

“I think we had a large percentage of the possession, but in the second half we started to play the way they wanted us to play, which is a little faster, a little more in the air,” White said. “It’s an athletic style they play and we’re more technically on the ground and keep it a little bit. We got caught up in it.”

This story was originally published September 17, 2015 at 9:42 PM with the headline "Hough, South Mecklenburg find plenty to build on during 1-1 tie in boys’ soccer."