The Blythewood Bengals scored three goals in the opening 13 minutes to coast to a 4-nil win over the Ashley Ridge Swamp Foxes Tuesday, April 12 in the second day of the Nike Palmetto Cup.
“It was huge. Fortunate for us, we don’t have to travel that far; they have to get on a bus each morning and commute back and forth,” Blythewood head coach Robby Setzler said. “I believe that mattered when we were able to jump on them pretty fast. We were a little more comfortable as the match went on.”
Christian Stewart got Blythewood on the board with a goal in the seventh minute for a 1-nil lead.
Four minutes later, Ryan Hart got past the Ashley Ridge keeper and scored on an open net to give the Bengals a 2-nil lead.
Connor Jackson scored in the 13th minute to put Blythewood ahead 3-nil.
Hart added a second goal in the 77th minute as the Bengals led 4-nil.
While the Blythewood offense was finding the back of the net, Bengals keeper Minor Moran was busy keeping the Swamp Foxes off the scoreboard, especially with diving stops in the 50th and 77th minute to preserve the shutout.
“He’s extremely brave and stretches the 18 well. I trust him going to get those balls,” Setzler said. “Sometimes he scares me, but Minor has done well for us this year. He keeps the ball out of the net. He does a really good job of judging the 50/50 balls in the box. Whenever he gets to the ball first I feel like that gives us a better chance to be successful.”
Blythewood’s win over Ashley Ridge came a day after its 3-nil win over the Sumter Gamecocks and have the Begals in prime position to win the tournament’s Crescent Division.
“The Palmetto Cup is fun, but we know where we are at heading into day three,” Setzler said. “Legs are getting to be an issue, and the guys are tired. They’ve had three matches in three days. It puts everything is our grasp. We’re excited about it, and I’m anxious to see our guys come out and play.”
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