Month: October 2022

Since legendary English soccer manager Alex Ferguson retired in 2013, Manchester United hasn’t resembled the same team that won 13 Premier League championships in 20 years.

But they’re still Manchester United in England, and any win by a visiting club in Old Trafford Stadium is one worth savoring for years on end.

Closer to home, the Chapel Hill Tigers won back-to-back 3A State Championships in 2017 and 2018. This year with a younger team, they’re 7-6-3 and in 3rd place in the DAC-VII.

But they’re still Chapel Hill, a team that defeated Orange seven straight times going into Thursday night. The fact Orange went into Chapel Hill Soccer Stadium and came away with a 3-2 victory was memorable.

How they did it was incredible.

The Panthers played the final 25 minutes with only ten men after goalkeeper Connor McMurtry received a red card for diving after a loose ball on a breakaway, but hit a Chapel Hill player instead. At the time, Orange led 1-0, but the Tigers evened the match on the subsequent penalty kick. Minutes later, Chapel Hill took the lead.

It appeared the Tigers were headed towards its eighth straight win for the Panthers since they had an 11-on-10 man advantage. As backup goalkeeper Finn Kelly replaced McMurtry, Orange got the equalizing goal from Cooper Zinn to even the match 2-2 with 9:24 remaining. The goal was set up with senior centerback Darius Corbett played the ball from midfield to the left side of the field. Zinn ran down the flank and flicked it along the left post to even the game.

Kelly kept the match tied with some remarkable saves for the Panthers. With 35 seconds remaining, junior Emmanuel Del Cruz scored the game-winning goal in front of a stunned Tiger crowd. The Panthers would hold on for a 3-2 result, its third win in four days.

Del Cruz, in his first year on the varsity, earned his third goal of the season.

It was Orange’s first win over Chapel Hill in men’s soccer since September 20, 2017.

The victory is a huge boost for the Panthers hopes of reaching the 3A State Playoffs for the first time since 2016. Going into Thursday’s match, Orange was #22 in the 3A East Regional rankings by MaxPreps. They have risen four spots over the past week.

On Wednesday, the Panthers (9-8, 5-4 in the Central Carolina Conference) cruised to a 6-0 win over Person at Orange Soccer Park. Mann, who leads Orange with nine goals in 2022, notched two goals. It was his fourth brace of the season. Mann now has a four-game goal scoring streak.

Corbett added another goal for the Panthers. Ryker Stein, Mil Cruz, and senior Ivan Guzman all scored for the Panthers to complete a season sweep of the Rockets. Senior Dylan Silverman added an assist, as did sophomore Eben Petrides.

Orange will continue its pursuit of a birth in the 3A State Playoffs with a road trip to Northwood on Monday night in Pittsboro.

This week’s Orange Panther of the Week is senior volleyball outside hitter Allie Wilkerson. Recently, Wilkerson announced her commitment to Averett University. This season, Wilkerson is third on the team with 102 kills. She has amassed 32 blocks, which is second on the team. The only Lady Panther who has more blocks than Wilkerson is her younger sister, Ava. On Thursday night, Wilkerson, Caitlin Carden, Ashlyn Davis, Erin Jordan-Cornell, Lily Smith and Ashlyn Hoffman were all honored on senior night as Orange defeated Eastern Alamance in straight sets. Wilkerson had a chance to play along the back line after the result of the match became clear. Wilkerson started playing volleyball with her travel team, then with Orange Middle School. Orange now has 16 wins, its best victory total since they won 19 games in 2008. Wilkerson has played an instrumental role in Orange’s success as the Lady Panthers have earned an automatic trip to the state playoffs. Orange will host Northwood in the opening round of the Central Carolina Conference Tournament on Monday night in Hillsborough. 

The Cedar Ridge volleyball team has won its third straight regular season championship. On Wednesday night, the Red Wolves defeated Orange 3-0 to finish the regular season 19-1. Remarkably, after losing its season-opener to J.H. Rose, the defending 3A State Championships won all 19 of its subsequent matches and didn’t lose a set. Senior Grace Young, who has committed to play at UNC Asheville, leads Cedar Ridge with 166 digs. Senior Anaya Carter committed to UNC Pembroke last month. Carter has 52 kills this season. Young, Carter, Cameron Lloyd, Cameron Lanier, Julie Altieri, Melissa Benkowitz, Lauren Cecil and Isabelle Sheppard have won six championships during their stint at Cedar Ridge. This season alone, Cedar Ridge has defeated the 2021 4A State Champions Green Hope, the 2020 3A State Champions D.H. Conley and the 2017 2A State Champions Carrboro. Cedar Ridge will resume play in the Central Carolina Conference Tournament on Tuesday. The Red Wolves will face either Walter Williams, Person or Eastern Alamance in the semifinals. 

The chances of the Orange men’s soccer team earning its first trip to the 3A State Playoffs got a major boost this week. On Thursday night, the Panthers stunned Chapel Hill 3-2 at Tiger Soccer Stadium. The Panthers trailed 2-1 and played the final 20 minutes without its starting goalkeeper after he received a red card. Playing with ten men, the Panthers got the game-tying goal from Cooper Mann. With 34 seconds remaining, Emmanuel Mil Cruz scored the game-winning goal as the Panthers defeated the Tigers for the first time since September 20, 2017. The Tigers had beaten Orange seven straight times. On Wednesday, the Panthers defeated Person 6-0 at Orange Soccer Field. Tyler Mann had two goals and three assists. Mil Cruz, Ivan Guzman and Ryker Stein each scored a goal. On Tuesday night, Orange won the Hillsborough Derby with a 4-1 win at Cedar Ridge, which is where this video was shot. Mann scored two goals, while Eben Petrides scored the first goal of his varsity career. Bryan Membreno scored the game-winning goal on a rocket from over 30 yards away. Orange is on a three-game winning streak and will face Northwood in Pittsboro on Monday night. 

If there were Madden ratings in volleyball, chances are almost of Cedar Ridge’s players would have been near 100 on Wednesday night.

And what better time to be operating at peak proficiency?

In possibly its finest performance of the season, the Red Wolves rolled past Orange 3-0 on scores of 25-11, 25-6 and 25-10 to win the Central Carolina Conference regular season championship at Red Wolves Gymnasium.

The Red Wolves finished the regular season 19-1, 12-0 in the CCC. It is the third straight regular season championship for the six Red Wolves seniors, and their sixth championship overall to go along with the 2021 3A State Championship, the 2021 Eastern Regional Championship and the 2021 Central Carolina Conference Tournament championship. Cedar Ridge will be the top-seed in the CCC Tournament, which begins on Monday. The Red Wolves will receive a bye into the semifinals and start play on Tuesday. Orange (15-9, 9-2) will be the #2 seed and will host Northwood on Monday night at Panther Gymnasium.

The Lady Panthers were held to a season-low 27 points. Their previous low was 60 in its first game against Cedar Ridge, a match where the Panthers had four set points to win the opening frame, but eventually lost 30-28.

The Red Wolves started the season with a loss to J.H. Rose. Following that, Cedar Ridge didn’t drop a set the rest of the regular season. They won 57 consecutive sets on its current 19-game winning streak. They also extended its home court winning streak to 22 in a row.

Cedar Ridge has now won 37 consecutive matches against conference opponents. Its last loss in a league match came against Orange on October 8, 2019.

“I think this game and Green Level were really good games for us,” said Cedar Ridge coach Fiona Cunningham. “We know we’ve been starting to hit our stride a little big more, which is nice. We’ve been trying to tell the girls to stay focused, keep ourselves in the system as much as possible. We started to see that come through today.”

Cedar Ridge outside hitter Cameron Lloyd, who is nearing 1,000 kills for her career, led the Red Wolves with eleven kills. Melissa Benkowitz had seven kills and two aces. Setter Julie Altieri, the all-time school leader in assists and aces, finished with 24 assists and four aces.

The Red Wolves’ defense was so dominant, Orange’s Ella Wimsatt was the only Lady Panther with multiple points. She finished with two kills.

In all three sets, Cedar Ridge pulled away with lengthy runs to override early Orange leads. The Red Wolves went on a 9-2 run, which included two aces from Benkowitz. Ahead 10-6, Cedar Ridge reeled off eight consecutive points off the serve of senior Anaya Carter. In the spree, Lanier had back-to-back kills, followed by a block that led to an Orange timeout. Carter’s block of an Orange attack ended the first set 25-11, which was as competitive as it would get all night.

After Orange got an opening ace from Caitlin Carden to start the second set with a 2-0 lead, the Red Wolves scored 12 straight points off the serve of Altieri, who had four aces in the set. During the run, Addie Reid notched two blocks while Lloyd racked up three more kills. Altieri’s quick kill off a dig by Benkowitz ended the second set 25-6.

Orange jumped out to a 6-3 lead in the third set following an early spike from Wimsatt. With Carter serving, this time the Red Wolves went on a 8-0 run. Lanier, Lloyd, Carter and Benkowitz all had kills, along with an ace from Carter to put the Red Wolves ahead 11-6.

Regardless of whether they win the conference tournament, Cedar Ridge has earned the CCC’s top-seed for the 3A State Playoffs, where they will defend their 2021 3A State Championship. Currently, the Red Wolves are ranked #2 in the 3A East Region behind only J.H. Rose, naturally. Most likely, they will be the #2 overall seed for the State Tournament.

“I think we have a lot of season left, hopefully,” Cunningham said. “So we want our girls to stay focused on that rather than the end of a chapter for a lot of them. But I look at them from a coach’s perspective and I look at it from a person who’s been with them for three years of their high school careers and is going to miss them dearly because of that. They will be a loss for this program both as people and as players.”