DEMOREST, Ga. – The 2023 Collegiate Conference of the South Men's Soccer Tournament is anybody's to win. Just ask the Maryville Scots.
Maryville scored twice after halftime Wednesday night and earned a 2-1 road victory at Piedmont in the quarterfinal round of the CCS tournament. The Scots as the No. 6 seed advance to play Saturday against second-seeded Belhaven in Jackson, Mississippi. Start time has not been determined.
After a scoreless first half, Maryville broke through in the 68th minute. It looked as though Piedmont was going to find the opening goal with a flurry, but the Scots defense held and forced the ball back to midfield.
That's where
Hyatt MacDonald chested a pass to
Craig McIlwraith and then broke suddenly toward the goal. McIlwraith lofted a perfect pass to the front of MacDonald, and as a Piedmont defender fell to the turf and the ball bounced to the edge of the 18-yard box, the Maryville first-year forward caught up to the ball and fired sharply into the left corner of the net for a 1-0 lead.
Both McIlwraith and MacDonald were
named to the All-CCS Second Team earlier Wednesday.
The Scots doubled their margin in the 83rd minute when
Caleb Platillero scored on a free kick from 22 yards out. A foul on a potential breakaway gave Maryville the spot kick, and Platillero fired low and hard just inside the right post for a 2-0 advantage.
Piedmont made things a little nerve-wracking with a goal inside the last 2 minutes, but Maryville held on and stayed alive in this most wide-open of brackets.
"Our kids played very well and they played really hard," Scots head coach
Pepe Fernandez said. "This is a tough place to win, and they had not lost a home game in conference this year. So for our boys to come here and play on the turf, it was a really great win."
Maryville improved to 7-5-6, while Piedmont's season ends at 6-9-3.
Manfred Makes Eight Saves
Shots favored the home team 20-12, and corners were very one-sided at 11-2 Piedmont. But
Mykal Manfred was on the spot for eight saves and he picked up his sixth victory of the season. Manfred was another All-CCS Second Team selection, while
Noah Putman keyed the defensive effort once again after being named to the All-CCS First Team.
Maryville already has tournament wins this season at Centre and at home in the Maryville College Fall Classic. Now they are trying to stay tournament tough and put together three consecutive road victories, which is what it will take to claim the CCS tourney crown.
"These guys haven't had an easy game all year," Fernandez said. "But when it's really been on the line and our backs have been against the wall and we needed a win, we've found a way and that's what happened here tonight. We gave up that goal late but the defense held firm and I couldn't be more proud of our effort."
