Pioneer soccer blanked by Baylor

By DALE STUBBLEFIELD / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard

Tucker Chastain dives to make a save during the first half of Tuesday afternoon’s soccer match against Baylor. Baylor won the contest, 5-0. (Dale Stubblefield photo)

Always a powerhouse in boys soccer, Chattanooga Baylor visited the Pioneers for a Tuesday afternoon non-district matchup.

Baylor jumped on the short-handed Pioneers early, and by the end of the game had shut out Warren County for the 5-0 win.

“This is a very good program and I just wanted our guys to see what a good team looks like,” said coach Keith Hamilton. “I knew we would have a few kids missing due to spring break. I had to start two junior varsity players, but I’m not taking anything away from Baylor. We didn’t have all our horses out there, but it gave us a chance to get a lot of players in the game against a team like Baylor.”

Chris Bach gave the Bears an early 2-0 lead. Bach scored his first goal four minutes into the contest as he drove the ball past Pioneer goalie Davey Britton. Bach added his second goal 18 minutes in when he slipped one past a diving Tucker Chastain. Chastain, who replaced Britton, came up with a diving save with eight minutes left in the half, but the Bears continued to pressure Warren County’s defense, playing most of the first half in front of the Pioneer goal.

“I knew we had to play a possession game,” Hamilton said. “I told the team at practice if we don’t keep possession and do a good job of passing, Baylor would eat our lunch.”

Javier Villarreal put the Bears up 3-0 with 2:18 left in the half. Warren County never made any push on offense, with just one attempt in the half. Philip Spitalny scored for the Bears with under two minutes remaining as Baylor held a 4-0 lead at the break.

Second-half action saw the Bears go to their bench. The Pioneers still had trouble on offense as Warren County failed to put together any type of attack at goal. Baylor’s play in the second half continued to show the Bears’ dominance, and 10 minutes in, John Bradley Murphy scored the Bears’ fifth and final goal of the game.

Warren County continued to make mental mistakes and seemed somewhat unfocused. The Pioneers came up with one drive in the period, but the shot would come up short as Baylor controlled the game until the horn sounded.

“It’s hard for a team to stay focussed when the kids are on spring break, we just didn’t play very smart tonight,” Hamilton noted. “We had a chance to see a real good team, and hopefully our kids will understand the level of commitment you have to have to reach that level of play.”

The Pioneers are now 3-4 on the season and will get into District 7-AAA action on Tuesday as they travel to Siegel.