Head Coach Jed Lacey and his Dawson County varsity boys’ soccer team defeated Fannin County, 4-1, in an area match-up last Tuesday in Dawsonville.
On Thursday, his team lost 6-0 to Riverwood in a non-region game.
With the win over Fannin, the Tigers are currently 4-1 in area play. Dawson has two very important region games coming up after spring break against Lakeview Academy and Riverside Military Academy. If the Tigers win both they will qualify for the state playoffs.
“If we win both those we go to state. If we lose to Riverside, we stay home,” said Lacey. “It is as easy as that. All you can ask for at the end of the year is to have a shot at the state playoffs and we have that. It will take all we have to beat a well-disciplined and skilled team like Riverside, but I believe we are up to the task. We have trained all year for that game.”
In the game against Fannin, the Tigers jumped out to a 2-0 halftime lead on goals from Tyler Freeman and Jose Miranda.
Miranda’s goal was very important and came just 17 seconds before halftime to give Dawson a cushion going into the locker room.
Freeman and Miranda started their offensive prowess by scoring a goal apiece in the second half to give Dawson the win. It was Freeman’s fifth goal of the season. Miranda currently has nine goals for the year.
“It was a nice win for us,” said Lacey. “I thought we did some of our best passing of the season tonight. We stressed it before we came out tonight that we wanted better passing and using the whole pitch and we did just that. I was very proud of our team tonight in how they stuck to the game plan and did exactly what I asked them to do.”
The team traveled to Riverwood High School last Thursday. Despite only trailing 1-0 at half, Dawson surrendered five goals in the second half to lose 6-0.
“Riverwood has probably two of the best strikers in the state. It was good for us to play up and play one of the best AAA teams in the state before we play Riverside Military Academy next week,” said Lacey.
Dawson rested several of its key players against Riverwood. It gave Lacey a chance to evaluate his younger players.
Lacey said: “ We let the younger players get varsity game experience and also help us see which of the younger players can help us play this type of team in the run for the playoffs.”
The team is currently off until after spring break. Dawson will play at home against Chestatee in a non-region match on Wednesday, April 14 for senior night. On April 16, the team will travel to Gainesville to play Lakeview Academy in another tough region game.