Orange Men’s Soccer

With its biggest tests still ahead against the southern end of Orange County, the Orange volleyball team has momentum headed into its Big 8 Conference opener.

On Wednesday night, the Lady Panthers quickly finished Roxboro Community School 3-0 at Panther Gymnasium in Hillsborough. Orange won its fifth straight on scores of 25-18, 25-17 and 25-11.

After starting the season 0-3, the Lady Panthers will host East Chapel Hill in its conference opener in Hillsborough on Thursday night in Hillsborough.

Freshman Erin Jordan-Cornell, the younger sister of former Orange offensive lineman Jace Jordan-Cornell, finished with seven kills and two blocks. Last week, Jordan-Cornell had eight kills in a 3-0 win over South Granville in Creedmoor.

Senior Kaitlyn Werden and Emma Clements tied Jordan-Cornell with a team-high seven kills. Werden, who had a team-high ten kills in an upset over Person last week, also finished with 16 assists, five digs and three aces. Clements added seven digs and one ace.

Senior Brooke Fryar and sophomore Lottie Scully each registered 15 digs. Scully also led Orange with 17 assists.

Tuesday’s match was the last before Orange enters Big 8 Conference play. In addition to Thursday’s match against East Chapel Hill, Orange will make its first-ever trip to Vance County on Tuesday. Vance County replaced Hillside as a member of the Big 8 Conference during the summer after the Hornets returned to 4A. Though its located in Henderson, Vance County is a separate entity from Northern Vance and Southern Vance, which consolidated to create the new school. It is located at the location of the previous Southern Vance High.

Orange’s next nine matches will be conference affairs. Their next nonconference tilt will be a return trip to Roxboro Community School on October 4, which is also slated to be its final nonconference game of the year.

Men’s Soccer: Orange 7, Hillside 1

After scoring three goals in a span of 13 minutes last week in a 5-3 victory over Eastern Alamance, the Orange men’s soccer team continued its fireworks with a 7-1 victory at Hillside on Tuesday night.

Jose Beltran, who notched the first hat trick of his career against the Eagles, added another goal against the Hornets. Elliott Sikes had the biggest night of all for Orange, racking up two goals and two assists. Leif Mahoney, Jason Franklin and Tyler Werden each had one goal and one assist. Nick Catalano also scored a goal for Orange. Rohan Kasthuri assisted on two goals for the Panthers, who have opened the year 3-1.

Orange will play one more nonconference game on Friday night at Riverside inside Line Wrenn Stadium in Durham. That is slated to be the final nonconference game of the year, but those plans may change. The Panthers had contest against Carrboro and Eastern Alamance rained out during the first week of the season. There has been no word on whether those games will be made up.

Orange will open Big 8 Conference play at East Chapel Hill next Wednesday inside Dave Thaden Stadium.

On Wednesday night, the Cedar Ridge men’s soccer team will travel to the Durham School of the Arts. The Red Wolves, who had a game against Bartlett Yancey postponed last week, is slated to face the Buccaneers on Monday night in Yanceyville.

As a new feature on Hillsboroughsports.com, we’ll honor the seven best performances from the previous week in fall sports. Last week was a solid one for Cedar Ridge and Orange volleyball. Cedar Ridge women’s tennis defeated Orange for the 11th straight time.

1. Olivia Ward: Won three matches for the Cedar Ridge women’s tennis team last week. She started with a thrilling three-set victory over Chapel Hill’s top singles player, Lauren Bolzan, 4-6, 6-4, and won 10-8 in a ten-point tiebreaker. The following day, Ward defeated Orange’s Jera Hargraves 6-1, 6-4, then teamed with Nora Sauers to win at #1 doubles and capture the dual match for the Red Wolves. The following day, Cedar Ridge edged Bartlett Yancey 5-4 at Red Wolves Tennis Courts. Ward captured her third win in four days, winning a match shortened to one set 8-5.
2. Cameron Lloyd The Cedar Ridge volleyball team won three road matches last week. On Wednesday, they defeated Durham School of the Arts 3-1 at Sykes Gymnasium in Durham. Lloyd, a freshman, finished with 18 kills and 18 digs. The previous week against the Durham School of the Arts in a 3-1 Cedar Ridge win, Lloyd had 15 kills, 18 digs and two aces.
3. Jose Beltran: On Wednesday, the Orange men’s soccer team scored three goals in a 13-minute span during the second half to rally and defeat Eastern Alamance 5-3. Beltran scored the first hat trick of his career, including the game-tying goal in the 62nd minute. Beltran also scored the opener for the Panthers in the 6th minute, and added another tally later in the 1st half as Orange won its home opener. The Panthers are 2-1 going into Tuesday night’s match at Hillside.
4. Kaitlyn Werden: In Orange’s stunning 3-1 volleyball victory over previously unbeaten Person, Werden had ten kills, ten digs two aces, two blocks and 21 assists. On Monday, night, Werden had five kills, two aces, three blocks, and ten digs in a 3-0 win over South Granville in Creedmoor. Orange defeated the Vikings again on Thursday night in Hillsborough.
5. Machai Holt: Though the Orange football team lost to R.J. Reynolds 47-24 in its season opener at Auman Stadium on Friday night, Holt was tremendous in the season-opener. He made an interception on the first play from scrimmage of the season. Holt finished the drive with a five-yard touchdown run. Holt also blocked an extra point, blocked a field goal, and led Orange players with 83 yards from scrimmage.
6. and #7 Anne Morrell and Zoe Wade: The Cedar Ridge women’s cross country team started its season at the Grizzly Grade-Level Growler at the Ivey Redmon Sports Complex on Kernersville on August 24. It was the first of what could be a series of strong performances from the Cedar Ridge women. The event was divided into grade classes for each runner. Morrell won the race featuring exclusively juniors with a time of 13:02.00. She beat her nearest competitor by 27 seconds. Wade won the sophomore race, crossing the finish line at 13:20. Her teammate, Ruby Lapham, finished second in the sophomore race at 13:29. An honorable mention goes to Cedar Ridge freshman Sarah Fenwick, who won the two-mile freshman race at 13:20.

In its home opener, the Orange men’s soccer team trailed Eastern Alamance 3-2 with 20. Minutes remaining. The Panthers scored three goals in a span of 13 minutes to capture a 5-3 victory. Jose Beltran, who had been held scoreless in Orange’s opening two games, notched the first hat trick of his career. He scored the game-tying goal in the 64th minute. Junior Leif Mahaney got the game-winner for Orange, which is now 2-1 on the year.  Beltran also scored the opening two goals in the first half. Orange also defeated Union Pines 1-0 in its season opener on Saturday. The Panthers will travel to Hillside on Monday night. 

The first Orange Panther of the Week for the 2019-2020 academic year is junior wingback for the men’s soccer team Lucas Hales. On Saturday, Hales helped Orange shut out Union Pines 1-0 at WakeMed Soccer Park in the North Carolina Soccer Coaches Association Kickoff Classic in Cary. Hales helped contain Union Pines to only three shots on net in the game as Orange won the season opener. Lucas is a three-sport athlete. In the winter, he runs indoor track and focuses on the 400 and 800 meters for Orange’s outdoor track and field team. The Panthers lost to Williams in Burlington on Monday night. They will look to bounce back on Wednesday when they host Eastern Alamance in Hillsborough. Orange will travel to Hillside next Tuesday.