Tigers cruise past Cascade

After beating Middle Tennessee Christian School (4-2) and Hickman County (3-1) earlier in the week, the Marshall County Tigers soccer team reeled off their sixth straight victory on Friday night when they defeated the Cascade Champions 4-1 at home on Senior Day in their regular season finale.

Marshall County (10-4-2, 5-1-1 District) got off to a fast start and built a 2-0 lead midway through the first half. Cascade then tallied a goal late in the opening stanza to trim the deficit to 2-1 at the break, but the Tigers put the game out of reach by scoring twice in the first 25 minutes of the second half to claim their 10th victory of the year.

Thanks to Friday's triumph, Marshall County finished in a tie for second place with Community in the District standings.

MCHS controlled the action for much of the contest and outshot the Champions 36-16 overall. The Tigers featured a balanced scoring attack, as Andres Acosta, Ivan Leyva, Luis Zarate, and Edwin Jaimes each scored one goal with Acosta dishing out an assist. Brad Pippen also registered an assist for Marshall County.

In net, Marshall County goalie Jonathan Salinas turned in another solid performance and finished with 12 saves.

"This is exactly what we wanted to do going into the playoffs. We're happy that we had a strong finish to the regular season and beat two good teams in two nights," said MCHS coach Lisa Raffo. "This team is very cohesive and unselfish. They play for each other and want each other to score."

Hunter Golden notched Cascade's lone goal of the contest, while Chance Hoffmeister registered an assist.

The Tigers grabbed a 1-0 lead 12 minutes into the contest when Acosta kicked in a rebound directly in front of the Champion net after Cascade's goalie deflected a line drive shot by David Martinez.

In the 21st minute, Leyva gave Marshall County a 2-0 advantage by taking a pass from Pippen on the left side of the net and firing a low, skidding shot past the goalie from six yards out.

Cascade found the back of the net in the 32nd minute to trim the deficit to 2-1, as Golden received a pass from Hoffmeister in the middle of the field and kicked a slow, rolling shot into the Tiger goal after Salinas came out to challenge the ball.

The Tigers, though, opened up some breathing room just five minutes in the second half when Zarate and Acosta teamed up for a goal to push MCHS' lead to 3-1. After receiving a pass from Acosta on the left side of the field, Zarate dribbled the ball in and blasted a shot just inside the near post from 12 yards out.

Marshall County then tacked on another goal in the 65th minute when Jaimes curled a corner kick from the left side of the field inside the near post for the 4-1 final.