Peach State Soccer Recap, July 13: Silverbacks win South Atlantic Conference

Atlanta Silverbacks

As the #2 seed in the South Atlantic Conference of the NPSL’s South Region, the Silverbacks hosted their conference semifinal Thursday night. Since their regular stadium at Silverbacks Park was unavailable for an evening kickoff, the match was played at Georgia Gwinnett College. The Silverbacks dominated Carolina Railhawks NPSL 4-0. The win was not necessarily surprising, but the margin of victory was an eye opener.

Top seed Myrtle Beach was upset by Tobacco Road, so the Silverbacks were able to host the Conference final at Silverbacks Park Saturday night. A foul in the box gave the visitors the lead on a penalty kick late in the second half. Captain Mitch Garcia equalized in stoppage time on an amazing free kick to send the game to extra time. Avery Shepard deflected a shot into the goal in extra time to give the Silverbacks the win.

On Saturday, they head to Miami to face Miami United in the South Region semifinal. The winner faces the winner of Chattanooga vs. Dutch Lions on July 23.

Atlanta Silverbacks Women

The Silverbacks Women hosted the Southeast Conference semifinals and final at Georgia Gwinnett College. Unfortunately, the undefeated Women were upset in the semifinal by eventual champions Knoxville.

Atlanta went down 2-0, then 3-1, before staging a furious rally late in the second half. Zaneta Wyne scored in the 90th minute to make it 3-2, but the Silverbacks could not find an equalizer.

Coach Iggy Moleka told the Gwinnett Daily Post:

“Beating a team three times is extremely hard. And we played them last week, so it’s not like they were foreign to us or we were to them. It was just tough to play them that many times.”

Peachtree City MOBA

MOBA has been off from PDL play since their 1-1 draw on July 2 with Mississippi Brilla. They have two games left, tonight’s intra-state rivalry match with South Georgia and Saturday’s trip to face the Carolina Dynamo.

They did get some action against the Atlanta United U18 Academy squad last Friday night at Fayetteville’s McCurry Park.

South Georgia Tormenta

Tormenta split their final two home games of 2016 last week. They rolled over the Tri-Cities Otters 6-1 on July 7. Reed Norton had a brace in the winning effort with James Brighton, Eli Dent, Rashid Alarape, and Sam Lofts also getting on the scoresheet.

The Charlotte Eagles knocked Tormenta back down to Earth after the huge win, shutting South Georgia out 3-0 on July 9 in Statesboro.

South Georgia finishes their inaugural campaign with two games on the road this week. They play MOBA in Peachtree City tonight, followed by an away match Friday night against the SC United Bantams.