Washington conquers the Vikings as playoffs loom
Published 3:14 am Wednesday, October 31, 2018
By LAIEKE ABEBE
For the Daily News
KINSTON — The Washington Pam Pack came out firing against Kinston from the very first minute, taking care of business on the road in a 9-0 mercy-rule victory against the Vikings on Monday.
There were many different scorers for Washington (14-4, 10-1 2A Eastern Carolina Conference) including the usual suspects, like Tim Anglim, Cody Pinkham and Oscar Espinoza, with many of the goals coming on tap-ins after great possession play from the Pam Pack. However, a junior goalkeeper got his chance to get on the score sheet from the penalty spot and didn’t fail to do so.
Will Crisp was given the chance to get a goal after a penalty was award to the Pam Pack. His attempt went off the left post and in to give Washington a 4-0 lead over Kinston (0-11, 0-11 2A ECC) early in the first half. An own goal made it 7-0 and Anglim’s shot deflected off the goalkeeper and into the goal to make it an eight-goal lead. In the end, it was Pinkham’s goal from just outside the box in the 55th minute that ended the match and gave the Pam Pack another victory.
“It’s tough to come out with good things to work on in a 9-0 game,” Washington head coach Jim Kozuch said. “We tried to work on the little things like one and two-touch passing. Give-and-goes and getting crosses into the box was another key to the game. Overall, the team came out and played a great game tonight.”
While there were many chances, Washington took some time to end the game because they wanted to work on things they need to improve on for the state tournament, which begins this Saturday. However, Kozuch had a lot of perspective on how the regular season has gone for Washington leading up to this point and isn’t looking past the Pam Pack’s final opponent of the regular season, West Craven (5-10, 4-7 2A ECC).
“We’ve come a long way,” Kozuch said. “We’ve had a lot of highs and a lot of lows this season. There have been a lot of tough losses along the way. However, this team has learned a lot from those losses and we’re now well prepared for the state tournament. There is still one more game (at West Craven) that we have to take care of before we can begin our preparations.”