Guy Royals Pick Up a Win in Cabot

Amidst yellow cards and sideline warnings, the Royals held strong to win over Cabot, 3-1, last Wednesday. Slight fear going into the game was understandable, as Cabot had a league leading record of 6-1 (now 6-2). A strong Royals defense was able to hold Cabot off and set up counter-attacks for the offensive end.

Tyler Jones put his first goal of the game in early in the half only to have a Cabot goal tie the score right afterward. Jones was relentless as he scored yet again to put the Royals up 2 to 1 at the half. Both teams had some trouble keeping their cool, which resulted in several yellow cards for each team, and the relocation of one of South Royalton's top fans to the other side of the field. Regardless of the atmosphere on the field though, it wasn't enough to stop senior Chris Wilmot from hitting a low hard strike on the ball which resulted in a goal to clinch the game for the Royals, bringing their season record to 2-5-1. Having particularly nice games were freshman Chad Bailey on half and senior Beau Champney.

Overtime Loss

The Royals were off to Williamstown last Saturday where they ended up losing 2-1 after 20 minutes of overtime. Williamstown opened the game up midway through the first half when a miss-kicked goal-kick by the Royals went right to an opposing player and he put a hard, high shot into the right hand corner of the net, leaving South Royalton stunned. The Royals came back before the half ended, with a nice chip pass from Chris Skinner to wide-open Tyler Jones who was able to put a well-placed shot past the keeper. The score was tied going into the second half.

That was the end of scoring in regular time for both teams, and apparently the end of any officiating competence that could have been found on the field. As the teams went through the second half scoreless, there wasn't the problem of having one-sided calls being made, but just frankly bad ones. Overtime began shortly thereafter and both teams took the field angry for good reason, they were being cheated out of a good, fun, game.

In the first 10 minutes of overtime, both teams played strong and held off several one-on-one attacks. The final goal of the game was scored by Williamstown when a rolling corner-kick was misjudged by the post defender, and let by into the net.

Royals Tie Twinfield

South Royalton traveled up north to Twinfield on Monday, where they were met with somewhat equal ability and ended up tying 0-0 in overtime. Coming out very aggressively the Royals kept the ball on the offensive end of the field for the majority of the first half. Only one real scoring opportunity was given to Twinfield, but keeper Zach Grote turned him away at the net.

SoRo had a bit of trouble going into the second half, but maintained their composure and continued to fire away at the Twinfield goalie. Unfortunately, all of the shots on goal were stopped. Shooting this game was well spread among the Royals, with even some defensive backs getting in on the action. The Royals' defense, it should also be noted, had some very impressive stops from the bench, with Eben Bayer and Brian Thomas helping nicely. The Royals host Rivendell this Friday.

By Jake Doyle