LUMBERTON — When the Lumberton and Cape Fear boys soccer teams have met in recent years, it’s always seemed to be a close, physical contest.
With a United-8 Conference tournament championship on the line Wednesday in Lumberton, it was more of the same. And, after a tight, back-and-forth, evenly played match, it was Cape Fear that earned a 2-1 win over the Pirates.
“Just disappointment. Cape Fear’s a good team, and it was a back-and-forth game,” Lumberton coach Kenny Simmons said. “I thought we put a lot of pressure on their team defensively. There was some good clear-cut goal-scoring chances, but maybe not enough that we created, and then it was a struggle to finish, not that we forced their keeper into any great saves I didn’t think. I thought defensively we played good throughout.”
The loss snapped a 17-game winning streak for Lumberton (19-5-1), which began after its previous loss on Sept. 3, incidentally to Cape Fear (20-4-1).