SOCIAL CIRCLE, Ga. — For the second year in a row, the Social Circle Redskins’ boys soccer team saw its season come to an end in the first round of the state playoffs. This time, they suffered a 3-1 defeat against Whitefield Academy.
According to head coach Jim Corasaniti, a couple of key miscues determined Social Circle’s fate.
“We made a couple of silly mistakes that cost us goals that we couldn’t make up,” Corasaniti said. “We were in the right position, we just didn’t play well. [Whitefield Academy] played more defense once we were in a hole. It was a great year, but it didn’t end the way any of us wanted it to.”
Whitefield Academy opened up a 3-0 advantage that the Redskins could never bounce back from.
The WolfPack’s inaugural goal came less than 10 minutes into the game. Whitefield Academy scored with 30:47 left in the first half.
Neither team could cross the threshold for the remainder of the half but, yet again, the WolfPack scored quickly to begin the second half.
At the 32:33 mark, Whitefield Academy doubled its lead with a goal that snuck right past Jase Peters in the goal.
With 14:22 left in the match, the WolfPack added on with another goal.
Even with the odds stacked against them, the Redskins’ intensity seemed to remain high. Such intensity allowed for Social Circle to avoid the shutout.
Ethan Knight took the free kick with 6:46 left and his shot found the back of the net to make the score 3-1.
From there, Social Circle kept pushing the envelope trying to locate more scoring opportunities. Every attempt was futile, though, and the 3-0 deficit was too much to overcome.
Social Circle finished with a 6-11 overall record along with a 4-2 mark in Region 5A-Division I, which placed the Redskins as region runners up.
With the offseason now on deck, Corasaniti remains excited for what the future holds.
“We have 11 freshmen,” Corasaniti said. “They’re very talented, but they weren’t ready to play varsity. But they’ll be ready next year. We have a great group coming back. I’m more excited about next year, really.
“We’re going to be good next year. We’ll just need to bounce back and continue doing the right things.”
