Photo and article from Laieke Abebe

Spring Creek took the early lead, but couldn’t hang on in their non-conference matchup with Greene Central on Tuesday.

The Gators fell, 2-1 in Snow Hill against a Rams team that is now 8-0 on the season. Despite many positives to take away from the contest, Spring Creek head coach Miguel Torres’ bunch falls to 2-2-1.

“We executed the game plan over the first 20 minutes,” Torres said. “After that, they started getting more chances and that put pressure on us. We’ve got to play a complete game if we want to have success the rest of the season.”

Eight minutes into the contest, Rams goalkeeper Gabriel Reyes couldn’t catch a shot on goal by Gators midfielder Adrain Tavera. The ball trickled into the back of the net at Spring Creek led, 1-0.

From there, chances were limited for the Gators throughout the first half and the Rams began to grow into the game. Despite that, Spring Creek was able to hold onto their one-goal lead at halftime.

Greene Central put the pressure on and found their breakthrough in the first few minutes of the second half. A deflected pass into the box fell to Enrique Lopez-Lemus and he hit a shot into the top corner to tie the match at one.

Then, it was Lopez-Lemus again five minutes later with a similar type of goal. Rams midfielder Nathan Drake curled a shot that was saved by Isai Juarez-Perez, but he couldn’t secure the ball. 

The Rams striker was there to clean it up to give Greene Central a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. Spring Creek had one final chance in the last minute of the contest, but it was cleared away by the Rams defense. 

“Everywhere we go, we have to implement our style of play,” Torres added. “We have goals that we want to reach, so we’re going to regroup and prepare for a tough conference slate.”