Carolina Forest tops West Florence to finish as region runner-up

While the Socastee girls soccer team has been dominating with first place out of Region VI-AAAA wrapped up, Carolina Forest was looking for the next-best thing Tuesday night.

Carolina Forest clinched second place in the region with a 1-0 victory over West Florence, and coach Will Hall said it was huge.

“The second seed gets a host game so we’ll play the third place team out of Region V,” said Hall, whose team improved to 7-2 in Region VI-AAAA play. “It’s a big deal to host a game when you have to travel that far. The opposing team will have to drive a few hours to play us. It’s good for some of the girls to play host in that game; the seniors tonight it won’t be their last night and if we continue to win at that seed, we could host some more games.”

Haley Trunkett scored the only goal of the night in the first half and the Panthers held off West Florence the rest of the way. Still, Hall was weary as he watched his team hold a one-goal lead for the majority of the game but saw it as a good learning experience going into the playoffs.

“The first half was great. There was a lot of creation with the offense,” Hall said. “In the second half it turned into a grudge match. I told the players at that point in time we started playing harder not smarter and you have to cover more of the field because everybody is not pulling the same weight and the girls saw that; they know right to the very end anybody can come back in a heartbeat. It was good the girls finished it.”

Carolina Forest beat Conway 5-0 last Friday and will travel to play Sumter on Thursday in its final regular-season game. The game won’t have any implications for Carolina Forest, but Hall wants his team to have momentum going into the playoffs.

“Not a lot on the line but I want the girls to be ready,” Hall said.

Meanwhile, the Panthers have fell to the undefeated Socastee twice this year but Hall said he feels his team will have a better shot, should they meet later on in the playoffs.

“Socastee is always powerful and we kind of play that same kind of style of soccer,” Hall said. “Last time we played them we were down a few starters but that’s not to take anything away from them. They’re a great ballclub and they get after it and they just outplayed us in both matches.”

Once the playoffs start, Hall just wants his team to click and have fun and the rest will take care of itself.

“I think our chances are good. This team either rises to the challenge or they fall to it, but if we can start exploiting those options more, finish the game and start playing together – it’s fun,” Hall said. “In any sport, that makes the game easier and more enjoyable. You start missing shots, you get down on yourself. I think the girls have learned a hard lesson and it helps us going into the playoffs instead of learning that lesson in the playoffs.”

This story was originally published April 28, 2015 at 10:11 PM with the headline "Carolina Forest tops West Florence to finish as region runner-up."