Month: March 2021

The Orange men’s soccer team won its senior night game over Southern Durham on Tuesday night. The Panthers captured its first win of the year. Here are some photos from that night from Monica Franklin, who always is very generous with her time for the website.

If Thursday was Aiden Kehoe’s final game in a Cedar Ridge lacrosse uniform, he went out on an effort to be proud of. While Chapel Hill defeated the Red Wolves 7-3 at Culton-Peerman Stadium, Kehoe did his part as goalkeeper to keep Cedar Ridge in the game. Despite Chapel Hill holding the ball the entire first quarter, Kehoe kept the Tigers without a goal in the first twelve minutes. The majority of Chapel Hill’s goals came off transition opportunities when Kehoe didn’t have a full defense in front of him. Kehoe started playing lacrosse in fourth grade with the Durham Blues travel team. This season, he was between the pipes as the Red Wolves finished in second place in Conference 9. Kehoe and the rest of the Red Wolves now will wait for the North Carolina High School Athletic Association to release the pairings for the 3A/2A/1A State Playoffs, where Cedar Ridge is holding out hope for a wildcard spot.

If there’s such a thing as going into the state playoffs with momentum after a loss, the Orange lacrosse team has it. Chapel Hill appeared to be cruising to a comfortable victory over the Panthers, leading 9-4 with 8:54 remaining. But the Panthers scored four goals in a span of seven minutes and 25 seconds to narrow its deficit to 9-8. Orange had a man-advantage opportunity with 2:39 remaining after a Tigers’ player was called for using an illegal stick, but the Panthers’ came up short in a wild final seconds to tie the game. In his final regular season game at Auman Stadium, long stick midfielder Duncan Grant notched a hat trick Grant scored off an assist from Cy Horner with 3:32 remaining. Grant also scored Orange’s final goal of the first half off an assist from Caleb Davis. The Panthers, champions of Conference 9, will now wait to see who they will host in the opening round of the 3A/2A/1A State Playoffs. The game is scheduled for Monday.

In her sophomore year, Orange center Erin Jordan-Cornell continues to collect postseason honors.

On Wednesday, Jordan-Cornell was named the District 6 Player of the Year by the North Carolina Basketball Coaches Association. Joining Jordan-Cornell on the All-District 6 team was her teammate, junior guard Aaliyah Harris. Both Jordan-Cornell and Harris were named first-team All-Big 8 Conference on Monday.

In addition, Orange coach B.J. Condron was named District 6 Coach of the Year.

The All-District 6 first-team was comprised entirely of underclassmen. East Chapel Hill freshman center Laynie Smith, Bunn sophomore Kaitlyn Adams and Chapel Hill junior Laney Beale completed the first team.

District 6 covers nine counties across the north central part of the state: Orange, Durham, Franklin, Granville, Person, Rockingham, Vance, Warren and Caswell Counties.

Like most teams across the state, the Orange women’s team was directly impacted by the pandemic. Its top shooter, Mary Moss Wirt, missed the season after committing to play softball at Elon University. Condron gave regular minutes to sophomores Jada Reed, Makalya Alston and Nikayla Whitted. The Panthers wound up with a 6-4 record in a Big 8 Conference that included powerhouse Northwood, who went to the Final Four of the 3A State Tournament.

Condron will enter the 2021-2022 season with 91 career wins at Orange.

Jordan-Cornell’s ubiquitous presence could trigger the Panthers at any moment. She led the team in scoring, rebounding, and blocked shots. Even when Orange’s offense was lethargic, such as the season finale against Southern Durham, Jordan-Cornell could find ways to come up big in the clutch. Her 3-point play against the Spartans, off an assist from junior forward Jarmil Wingate, in the final minute put Orange in the lead for the first time in the game and was enough to pull out a victory on the road.

“She does all the little things,” Condron said of Jordan-Cornell. “Not only does she perform on the court, but she is a good student teammate, and person.”

Even though she’s a 5-11 center, Jordan-Cornell was third on the team with assists.

“I think it starts with her unselfish attitude,” Condron said. “I don’t think she cares whether she scores or someone else does, as long as it gets done. She really bought into “passing up a good shot for a better shot” which is something we talked about a lot this year.”

Jordan-Cornell was also an All-Big 8 Conference performer in volleyball, where Orange upset defending 3A State Champion Chapel Hill in its season opener.

Without Wirt, Harris had a greater scoring load on her shoulders. In her third year playing varsity, she was second on the team with 10.6 points per game. She had a season-high 16 points against Southern Durham on January 22, which was Orange’s first win of the season.

“Cool that Aaliyah made first team also,” Condron said. “She works really hard on her game and showed a lot of improvement from last season.”

Orange had only one senior on the team, Jala Rainey. Jordan-Cornell, Harris, Wingate, guard Samantha George and Jada Reed are all starters expected to return in November in a brand new conference that will include powers like Eastern Alamance, Person and the aforementioned Northwood Chargers.

Orange’s 5-game winning streak set up a game against Chapel Hill on February 15 where the winner would make the state playoffs. The Tigers captured the game and lost to eventual 3A Eastern Regional Champion Asheboro in the opening round.

For any new coach’s first victory at his/her new school, there’s usually a ceremonial game ball that the players present to their leader.

In light of current circumstances, Cedar Ridge’s men’s soccer team may have been doing head coach Andrew Berg a favor by skipping that part Monday night.

After the rainiest winter in 37 years across the Triangle, the field at Red Wolves Stadium has taken a beating. It hasn’t helped that there’s currently three different sports being played on the field, with women’s soccer set to start next week.

In the aftermath of Cedar Ridge’s 6-1 win over Orange in the Hillsborough Derby on Monday night, the soccer balls were in better condition than your standard Nerf soccer ball that had been ruined by your dog during the 1980s, but only slightly.

In lieu of a game ball, Berg told his team to salute the fans in attendance, some of whom carried banners and signs to honor their respective seniors.

“I really wanted that win for the boys,” Berg said. “It’s what we’ve been looking for the whole season. We finally saw everything we wanted to put together for the first time.”

It was also special because it was seniors who produced on Senior Night. Victor Salazar scored two goals and an assist, while classmate Danilo Babchencko added another goal as the Red Wolves claimed its first win of the season.

There was also a measure of redemption from what many of the Red Wolves’ players thought was a missed opportunity the week prior. In the first matchup between the two teams on February 25 at Orange Soccer Park, they played to a scoreless tie through two overtimes. Salazar, Nicholas Frank, Iliah Babchenko and Chris Mendez all had shots on goal, but none of them found the net.

“We were 100% the better team that night,” said Cedar Ridge goalkeeper Ty Corbin, who is also playing lacrosse this winter. “We just weren’t playing 100%. Tonight, we did play 100% and we proved it on the scoreboard.”

“Any team, especially if it’s your rival, is going to be a tough game,” Berg said. “I thought our boys came in a little over heated in that game. We made a lot of silly mistakes in that game that we corrected tonight and it showed.”

Berg inherited a young team used to playing for longtime coach Chris Walker, who watched from the stands on Monday night. Berg, a former assistant coach at Thomas University in Georgia, has dealt with the obstacles of a limited season because of the pandemic.

On Monday night, Salazar opened the scoring off a kick restart when Orange was called for a pass back to the goalkeeper, who picked the ball up. Off a free kick from 18 yards, Frank found Salazar, who sent away a low finish that rolled into the right corner of the net to give Cedar Ridge a 1-0 lead going into halftime.

It took only 31 seconds for Cedar Ridge to score in a lively second half. Sophomore Michael Garcia Salazar played a ball deep towards the left corner that appeared to be rolling over the end line. An Orange defender stopped running, but Frank did not and chip the ball over the end line.

Orange (0-4-1) controlled the following 15 minutes of play, but Corbin made one key save after another.

“They were pressuring us and we could have easily given up a goal or two,” Berg said. “Overall, we had the talent to make up for the little mistakes we’ve done and we had the goals to show for it.”

With 14:12 remaining, Victor Salazar tallied his second goal off an assist from sophomore Chris Mendez. Two minutes later, Mendez won a dual in the box and slammed the ball past Orange’s goalkeeper to push the Cedar Ridge lead to 4-0.

Senior Jonathan Clemente added a fifth Cedar Ridge goal in the waning minutes. Danilo Babchencko ended the scoring with his first goal of the season off an assist from Jorge Salazar.

The Red Wolves (1-5-1) will finish the season on Thursday night with a home game against Southern Durham. Orange will travel to Northern Durham to conclude the season. It will also be the final sporting event where Jason Franklin represents Orange. Franklin was named Most Valuable Player for the Panthers’ basketball team this week. He has played basketball and soccer at the varsity level since he was a freshmen.

Landon Riley: Coming off a sweep of UCF, the Liberty baseball team relied on former Orange star Landon Riley to finish out a victory over #18 North Carolina at Boshamer Stadium in Chapel Hill on Tuesday night. Riley entered the game in the bottom of the ninth inning with the Flames leading the Tar Heels 8-7. After hitting UNC’s Danny Serretti, Riley got Tyler Causey to fly out to left field for the final out of the game. Liberty improved to 7-5. Riley has recorded a save in three of Liberty’s last four games. He has not allowed a run in six relief appearances this season. The Flames host North Alabama in Lynchburg, VA for a weekend series starting Friday.

Mia Davidson: Davidson hit a home run for the #23 Mississippi State softball team in its 10-4 win against Alabama State at Barbara Williams field in Montgomery, AL on Tuesday. For Davidson, it was her 58th career home run, tying her for 9th place in Southeastern Conference history. She also recorded her 150th career RBI in the process. She’s the fifth player in school history to reach that mark. Davidson finished 1-for-5 with 3 RBIs and two runs scored.

Montana Davidson: The Mississippi State third baseman went 1-for-3 against the Hornets with a double. She scored in the 2nd inning off a triple by Anna Kate Segars. Mississippi State has won six in a row.

Jalin Jones: The Division III Pfeiffer men’s lacrosse team defeated Ferrum College 16-8 on Sunday at W.B. Adams Stadium in Ferrum, VA. Jones, a former Orange High midfielder, scooped up three ground balls for the Falcons, who improved to 2-1.

Kayla Hodges: Because of the pandemic, college women’s soccer season will be contested during the spring this year. Last Friday, the Elon Phoenix defeated Division III Mount Olive 2-0 at Rudd Field in Elon. Kayla Hodges, the former Orange midfielder, started her junior season by starting for Elon. She had a shot on goal. The Phoenix will play its Colonial Athletic Association conference opener against UNC Wilmington at home on Saturday.

Taylin Jean: The Division II Limestone women’s soccer team started its season with a 2-1 loss to Newberry. Taylin Jean, the 2019 Big 8 Conference Goalkeeper of the Year at Cedar Ridge, made her season debut in the Saints’ 1-0 win over Queens last Thursday. Jean preserved the win after she replaced starter Katie Maher in the 64th minute. Jean made two saves as Limestone improved to 1-1.

Brittany Daley: Former Cedar Ridge centerback Brittany Daley started her junior season at Division III Greensboro College last month. The Pride are off to a 3-0 start. Daley has started each game, including a 2-0 win over William Peace in the season opener at Pride Field on February 13. Greensboro defeated North Carolina Wesleyan 2-0 at Scalf Stadium in Rocky Mount on February 21. Two days later, Greensboro defeated Averett University 1-0 in overtime. The victory over the Cougars was the 40th game in Daley’s Greensboro career. The Pride will face Methodist in Fayetteville on Saturday.

Jordan Rogers: Former Orange High soccer star Jordan Rogers has started her junior season for the Division III William Peace women’s soccer team. She started in the Pacers’ season-opening victory over Shaw 3-2 at WRAL Soccer Park in Raleigh on February 10. Rogers also started in the aforementioned loss to Greensboro College, where she fired her first shot on goal of the season. Peace defeated Averett 4-0 for its first USA South Athletic Conference victory of the season at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary on February 21. Rogers was credited with a shot against the Cougars. North Carolina Wesleyan defeated Peace 2-1 on February 27, a game where Rogers started and had another shot on goal. Rogers also started in losses to Meredith and Davidson.

Bailey Lucas: The Division III Meredith volleyball team started its season with a doubleheader against Averett on March 6. Lucas, a former Orange star now in her junior season with the Avenging Angels, started both matches. In the opening 3-1 loss to the Cougars, Lucas had 26 assists, two kills, and nine digs. Meredith won the second match 3-0, where Lucas tallied four kills, 23 assists and three digs.

It’s a busy time for Cedar Ridge senior Ty Corbin. In addition to being the starting goalkeeper for the Red Wolves soccer team, Corbin is also a midfielder for the Cedar Ridge lacrosse team. Ordinarily, those seasons would be split far apart. But in a pandemic world, they’re taking place simultaneously. Corbin made several big saves during Cedar Ridge’s 6-1 win over Orange on Monday night at Red Wolves Stadium. The previous week, Corbin pitched a clean sheet in a scoreless time in double overtime at Orange Soccer Park. While Corbin will wrap up soccer season this week, he’s preparing for a potential wildcard birth in the 3A/2A/1A NCHSAA State Lacrosse Playoffs. The Cedar Ridge lacrosse team hosts Vance Charter on Tuesday night at Red Wolves Stadium as they continue to push for a postseason bid for the first time in two years.