BLADENBORO — Martin Rojas Jacinto and Aiden Russ scored first half goals and keeper Oswaldo Gonzalez-Lopez made key saves in the second half Monday as West Bladen defeated Union 2-1 in a nonconference boys’ soccer game.
The win was the second for the Knights following their 6-0 season-opening victory last week against South Columbus.
“I heard a quote today,” West Bladen coach Kristen Parker said, “‘there are no bad days. There are character-building days.’ Tonight’s game was certainly an opportunity to learn something about ourselves and our team. I’m happy with the W, but we definitely have a ways to go to be competitive in our conference.”
West Bladen is scheduled to play at Purnell Swett on Tuesday.
Union (0-1) took the lead 15 minutes into the game on a goal by Jeyck Laguna, but the Knights evened the score about a minute later when Kevyn De La Cruz Labra assisted on Jacinto’s goal.
Russ gave the Knights the lead with about three minutes left in the half when he collected Cristian Sandoval Rojas’ rebound off a shot attempt and put it into the back of the net.
West Bladen had a goal nullified by an offside infraction five minutes into the second half.
Gonzalez-Lopez made a key save off a Union free kick with 24 minutes remaining. The Spartans had a couple more free kicks that were wide of the goal.
