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Source: The Daily News, Jacksonville, N.儲存倉C.Oct. 22--Croatan's soccer program has come a long way in a year.Just a season removed from winning only three matches, the Cougars beat Southwest 2-1 in overtime Monday night on a goal by senior Noah Morris-Price to clinch second place in the East Central 2-A Conference.Croatan, which closes out the regular season at home Wednesday night against Northside (4-14, 2-7), is now 13-5 and 7-2 after going 3-16-3 in 2012."It's huge," said Morris-Price, who scored off an assist from J. T. Dupree with 6:44 left in the first of two 10-minute overtimes. "It's huge compared to all the other Croatan seasons. I just feel it this year. I feel we're going all the way."Whatever happens in the playoffs, the Cougars can certainly be proud of the turnaround."When you've got basically the same team coming back they feel like they've got a lot to prove," coach Paul Slater said. "They've got a chip on their shoulder, and you see that in the way they play, the heart that Noah talked about."That's what they have. Every game's a battle. They go until it's over, and that's something last year's team didn't really have."What led to the change? The senior class, Slater said, led by captain Garrett Bridgewater."Garrett's a great leader as a captain. He tried last year. You're going to follow the seniors. That's what inevitably what happens," Slater said. "And our seniors last year were great guys but just mellow. If we lost, it was OK."That's clearly not the case this year -- and clearly wasn't the case against the Stallions (7-7-5, 5-4), who travel to Dixon (8-8, 4-5) on Wednesday needing a win or a tie to clinch third place and the last of the three guaranteed playoff spots the ECC receives.A Dixon win would leave the teams tied for third."I don't feel like we let one get away," SWO coach John Sweeney said. "It was a match we could have won, but they can say the same thing and they did win. I just thought it was an evenly matched game for both teams. Obviously I wished we had finished another two chances."The Cougars did finish what proved the only big scoring chance by either team in overtime after having trailed 1-0 at the halftime on a goal by Southwest's Dakoda Rush from about 30 yards out that goalkeeper Zach Tracy appeared to have corralled but let slip through his grasp and between his legs with 13:07 left in the half.Croatan tied it with 26:58 left in the second half when Nathan Marks took a diagonal pass from Jake Parrish and then slid the ball into an open net after goalkeeper Jose Morales came far迷你倉最平out of the net to try to stop Marks.The game remained tied until Morris-Price's goal that started after a free kick by Bridgewater. The Stallions failed to clear, and Dupree nudged the ball to Morris-Price, who fired it in the back of the net from point-blank range."I got a great assist from my man J.T. That's all that happened. I just placed it," Morris-Price said, adding he didn't remember much else about the play. "All I remember is J.T. kicking it and I just (hit it in)."Slater said the goal Morris-Price took advantage of the opportunity that presented itself."J.T. had a real good opportunity to hit it. It's on his left. It's not his dominate (leg)," Slate said. "It skews off, and Noah's just there to tuck it home. Just awareness on both players' parts to be in the right place. It's what we work on, trying to be in the right place and do the right thing."Sweeney could only shake his head at the missed clear by his defense."I tell the guys all the time in a game between two quality teams it usually comes down to mistakes rather than something brilliant," he said. "I just thought that we didn't get what should have been an easy clearance. I think we were caught kind of flat-footed."Southwest clearly had the better of the play in the first half, a distinct change from the first meeting that saw Croatan jump out to a 4-0 first-half lead."We just came out with a lot more intensity," Sweeney said.But the play was more even in the second half in a match that was much more physical than the first meeting. The reason, both coaches agreed, is Croatan's field is about 15 to 20 yards wider. Southwest's narrower confines led to "a lot more bouncing off each other," Sweeney said.Beyond that, the game was for second place. Had Southwest won the Stallions would have pulled into a tie with Croatan."The game was for second. They know it. We know it," Slater said. "So both teams just put it on the field tonight."And unlike last year, the Cougars found a way to win."It's just our heart," Morris-Price said. "It's how we play as a team. We're going to come back, and we got a win."Croatan 0 1 1 0 -- 2Southwest 1 0 0 0 -- 1GOALS--C: Marks, Morris-Price. SW: Rush. ASSISTS--C: Parrish, Dupree. SW: none. IN GOAL--C: Tracy (6 saves). SW: Morales (5 saves). SHOTS ON GOAL--C 7, SW 6. CORNER KICKS--C 6, SW 5. RECORDS--C: 13-5, 7-2, hosts Northside. SW: 7-7-5, 5-4, at Dixon on Wednesday.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The Daily News (Jacksonville, N.C.) Visit The Daily News (Jacksonville, N.C.) at .jdnews.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉