LC Soccer Tournament: Tanner boys advance to title game
Published 6:45 pm Wednesday, March 28, 2018
- Tanner's David Pizano lashes a shot to the goal as Elkmont goalkeeper Tee Boyd prepares to make the save in the first half of Tuesday's Limestone County Tournament semifinal. Pizano scored the only goal of the game in the second half of Tanner's 1-0 victory.
David Pizano is on a scoring binge this season, and his latest goal sent Tanner to the championship game of the Limestone County Soccer Tournament.
Pizano scored on a header with 15 minutes remaining in the game Tuesday to give Tanner a 1-0 victory over Elkmont in the semifinals of the boys tournament.
“That dude is amazing in the air with his head or on the ground with his foot,” Tanner coach Matt Smith said. “He’s got a strong leg. I want to say he’s got 33 goals on the year and this is our 16th game. He’s been putting them away.”
The game was closely contested throughout, with neither team gaining a foothold in the first half. Tanner had a shot saved by Elkmont goalkeeper Tee Boyd while Elkmont’s shot was saved by Tanner goalkeeper Baruk Rios.
Tanner made some adjustments at halftime and came out the stronger team in the second half, always looking more likely to score.
“We switched up some things in the midfield a little bit,” Smith said. “We put some new personnel in that gave us some more options with better passes, and our runs were a lot more meaningful when we had someone who could get them the ball. I believe that helped turn our game around in the second half.”
Tanner had a chance to take the lead in the 10th minute of the second half, but Sergio Mendoza’s shot was saved by Boyd. The Rattlers finally broke through 15 minutes from the end when Gonzalo Rubio got free down the right sideline and sent in a perfect cross that Pizano headed in at the back post.
Elkmont had one big chance in the final minutes, but Rios made a save on a point blank shot and the defense cleared the ball away.
This is the third year of the Limestone County Soccer Tournament, and Tanner is trying to win it for the second time.
“We won the first ever tournament two years ago, and we’re glad to go back to the championship game after missing out last year,” Smith said.
The Rattlers will play East Limestone in the championship game at 7 p.m. Friday in the tournament that is taking place at Elkmont. The Indians advanced to the title game with a 3-0 victory over West Limestone Tuesday afternoon.
Jason Degroff, John Oliver and Cole Tiemann scored goals for the Indians in the victory, which completed a season sweep of the Wildcats.
Limestone County Girls Tournament
East Limestone 3, West Limestone 0
East Limestone led just 1-0 at halftime, but broke the game open with two second-half goals to advance to the girls tournament championship game.
Meagan Johnson scored the first goal of the game from 25 yards out into the wind. The Indians took advantage of having the wind in the second half with two more goals.
Alana Spear scored the second goal with Tori Bohanan scoring from 20 yards out to round out the scoring. East Limestone, the No. 8 ranked team in Class 5A, improved to 11-1-2 on the season.
The Indians will face either Tanner or Elkmont in the championship game. That semifinal game is Thursday evening. However, with heavy rain in the forecast, it’s possible the game could be pushed back to Friday.
If the semifinal game is delayed, the girls championship game will be at 10 a.m. Saturday. If the semifinal is not delayed, the girls title game will be at 5 p.m. Friday.
