45th District Boys: Soccer Pats knocked out of district tourney

Published 5:45 pm Monday, October 30, 2017

STANFORD — The Lincoln County boys soccer team came away with a win against Danville in the regular season but, when the season was on the line, it was the Admirals who prevailed.

Unlike the 2-1 nailbiter on Sept. 11, Danville punched its ticket to the championship game of the 45th District Tournament with a decisive win, knocking Lincoln out of postseason play with a 5-1 win Thursday night in the semifinal round at LCHS.

“I knew Coach (Brent) Beauman would have them ready,” Lincoln coach Lewis Cummins said. “They are a good team and tonight we made too many mistakes. Every goal they score, we made a mistake and they capitalized on it. We just didn’t execute our game plan well.”

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Danville’s determination to not repeat with a loss in the rematch was shown in a first-half scoring blitz. In a span of just 3 minutes, 31 seconds, the Admirals punched in three goals on Patriot keeper Carter Tillett to take a lead that Lincoln could not come back from.

“They definitely were motivated and excited and ready for this game,” Danville coach Brent Beauman said. “I was actually a little worried because we were so pumped and excited Tuesday and then the rain came and we had to move it. But they did what we were wanting to do, and we got the win.”

Senior midfielder Saif Siddiqui put the first score of the game up at the 29:40 mark of the first half, booting in the first of his two goals for the night from the right side of goal — and the scoring was on. Junior midfielder Nathan Hazlett was a blur on the next two goals, getting the feed off a corner kick to score with 26:44 on the clock, then following with a shot into the back right corner of the net with 26:09 showing.

Hazlett would score a hat trick in the win, closing out the first-half scoring with an arcing shot from the left side of goal with 11:45 on the clock to give Danville a 4-0 halftime lead. 

Lincoln (9-6-4) would tie Danville in scoring, 1-1, in the second half but there was no coming back from the early deficit.

Sophomore Trey Cummins averted the shutout for Lincoln, finding his way in front of goal and then heading in a shot on Danville keeper Keeton Burnside less than 10 minutes into the second half. 

Lincoln challenged Danville in shots on goal, 21-15, but Cummins’ goal would be the only shot the Pats would get past Burnside and the Ads’ “D.”

“We knew they were going to come out with a lot of intensity,” coach Cummins said. “We had a chance in the first couple minutes (game) to score a goal and didn’t. Had two or three chances in the first 12 minutes and just didn’t get in. Even when we were down 4-1 in the second half, we had another chance or two and didn’t make it, and then they scored a fifth goal. That just kind of hurt us tonight.”

Beauman had plenty of praise for his sophomore keeper.

“Keeton is phenomenal. We’ve had some really good goalies come through Danville and he’s putting in his stake as one of the best,” he said. “Keeton’s hands are just phenomenal because he catches the ball, instead of just blocking or saving and that’s important. He’s an amazing person and a good leader to have back in the back.”

Siddiqui answered Cummins’ goal with 26:05 left in the game. Siddiqui scored his second goal off a back-footed shot into the net for the 5-1 final.

Jesus Ayala had two assists for Danville and Briar Sanders had one assist.

Tillett had 12 saves in goal for Lincoln while Burnside had nine saves for Danville.

Thursday’s win was the ninth straight victory for Danville since its Sept. 11 loss to Lincoln.

“I think it’s almost better that we did lose the first game because they were so focused for this game – and this game was more important. That’s a good Lincoln team and the loss was a good wake-up call,” said Beauman. “There’s always going to be losses and failures but how you respond to them presents what kind of person you are, and we’ve responded well.”

And now Danville, which earns an automatic regional berth with the win, can concentrate on Saturday’s district championship game with Boyle County. Boyle advanced to the final with a 10-0 win over Garrard County.

“That’s a huge game, just the emotion and the fact that we’re cross-town rivals,” said Beauman. “These kids have grown up playing rec and club and select soccer together. I think they are going to be ready and it should be a good game.”

While Danville moves on, the season is done for Lincoln and it’s three seniors – Jacob Baird, Brandon Dixon and Gavin Poynter.  

“The last couple years, we’ve had losing records and we were able to get back on track and have a winning record. That’s a positive to build on for next year,” coach Cummins said. “But it’s still disappointing, especially for our seniors. There’s nothing you can say to the seniors to console them.”