CORBIN — The Lincoln County soccer Patriots snapped a seven-game losing streak Saturday, spoiling Corbin’s soccer homecoming with a 2-1 win over the Redhounds.
“Good teams was part of that stretch (losses). But the big thing was that when we would make mistakes, us being kind of young, we would drop our heads and then that would allow another mistake,” Lincoln coach Lewis Cummins said. “Tonight, after the first goal, we didn’t drop our heads. We kept our heads up and kept going. The way we had been playing, they’d have had another goal, but not tonight. The kids fought hard and we finally got some things to go that we’ve been working on in practice.”
Lincoln (4-9-2) found itself down near the midway point of the first period, with Chris Lebanion working the ball to the right of goal then punching in a shot behind soccer Pat keeper Trevor Godbey to make it 1-0, Corbin, with 26:28 remaining in the half.
The Lebanion goal followed a barrage of Corbin shots on goal as the Redhounds controlled the ball early.
“The first 15 minutes they had possession of the ball and was hammering down at us. Then, we finally got it turned,” Cummins said. “Everybody’s going to make a mistake on the field, you’ve just got to make sure you don’t make a second mistake because your heads are down. And we didn’t.”
Corbin (6-6) continued to control the ball for a few minutes after the game’s opening goal, but for only a few minutes. Lincoln gradually began taking control and, with 16:52 showing on the clock, Jacob Baird scored his 16th goal of the season off a Trey Cummins assist to deadlock the game at 1-all.
The Lincoln squad bagged the long-awaited victory thanks to the Baird-Cummins connection. Nine minutes after the first goal, Baird tallied what would be the winning goal off a lofting midfield pass from Cummins to make it 2-1.
And that lead would hold to the final buzzer as the Lincoln defense kept Corbin out of goal.
“The defense played well in the game tonight,” Coach Cummins said. “The last five minutes it was us just trying to keep them from scoring. We haven’t put ourselves in that position too much lately so we didn’t want to let it get away.”
“This was a good road win. This was well-needed for the boys. It makes the bus ride home a lot more fun, too,” he said.
Corbin’s Trey Cima tried to even the score early in the second period, taking the penalty kick for the Redhounds after a handball in the goal box by the soccer Patriots. Godbey dove to his right to try and deflect the PK but the ball went just wide of the goal.
Cummins wasn’t just pleased that the soccer Patriots ended their losing streak, he was also happy that they could do so short-handed.
“We were down a couple players tonight,” he said. “Dylan Cooper was out sick and our usual keeper (Austin Price) hurt his back. Bricen Alcorn hadn’t played a lot and he played the whole game in defense and played well. Everybody just came together and played well.”
Corbin outshot Lincoln in the game, getting 14 shots on goal to the soccer Pats’ eight.
Godbey had seven saves in goal for Lincoln. Noah Steely had three saves for Corbin.