SLIDELL — Pine’s Raiders suffered a 4-0 loss to Salmen in a game that took place Wednesday at Salmen on a foggy night.
Pine coach Monty Ingles said that his team had some opportunities, but one of the key factors is that they are still a younger program than most of the teams in the state.
“This is only actually the fifth year this team has been in existence,” Ingles said. “We’re about 10 years behind the other guys. We’re very young and we’re coming along. We have to learn how to finish, but we’re getting a team spirit. We’re learning about simple things like offside traps. We’re learning how to play triangles — lots of things going on. We’re really proud of them.”
Salmen had a chance to take the lead in the first 10 minutes but the shot was off the post and Pine’s Stefan Walker cleared it.
The Spartans scored in the 11th minute on a shot by Luis Garcia to make it 1-0.
Pine put a shot on goal four minutes later that was saved.
Salmen added a goal in the 20th minute. Marcus Selle took a pass from Nathan Laug. Selle dribbled it upfield. Pine’s goalkeeper came out, but Selle’s shot got by him and in the goal for a 2-0 lead.
Both teams had scoring chances down the stretch of the first half, but the defenses and keepers, Pine’s Brendon Kelley and Salmen’s Angel Sanchez, stepped up and kept it 2-0 at the break.
Pine had a corner kick in the 49th minute that Salmen defended.
The Spartans went up 3-0 a minute later when Max Ibanez tallied.
Salmen nearly scored again, as a shot was saved and Kelley came out to grab the rebound.
The match’s final goal was in the 54th minute as Terrence Jenkins dribbled in and scored for the 4-0 final.
Pine had some opportunities to score, but were unable to capitalize in the 4-0 loss.