Pirates soccer tops Cape Fear, moves into virtual tie atop United-8

FAYETTEVILLE — The Lumberton boys soccer team earned a hard-fought 2-1 win over Cape Fear in a key United-8 Conference matchup Wednesday.

With the win, Lumberton (9-4-1, 6-1 United-8) pulls even in the loss column with Cape Fear (11-3-1, 7-1 United-8) atop the conference standings; the Pirates also evened the head-to-head series this season after the Colts’ 2-0 win on Sept. 3. Lumberton has seven conference games remaining, while Cape Fear has six.

The Colts took an early 1-0 lead in Wednesday’s match on a 20-yard goal from Francisco Rodriguez.

Lumberton’s Korbyn Walton scored with 20:20 left in the first half on a 15-yard shot off an assist by Joshua Badillo. The score remained 1-1 through the end of the half.

The match became very physical in the second half, with many fouls on both teams. With five minutes remaining, the Pirates took a 2-1 lead when Emilio Carrera scored in the lower-left part of the goal past Cape Fear’s outstretched goalkeeper, assisted by Alexis Adler.

Isaac Juarez had five saves in goal for Lumberton.

Lumberton is scheduled to face St. Pauls in the Robeson Cup championship at 6 p.m. Saturday at Red Springs before returning to United-8 play at home Monday against Jack Britt.