Patriot Boys bounce back

Senior defender Zach Hardin (17) heads a ball into the goal during Fort Dorchester’s win over Summerville March 16.

The Fort Dorchester Boys Soccer team suffered its first region loss last week but bounced back with a win over its cross-town rival.

The Patriots lost 7-1 to Wando March 13. Fort Dorchester matched Wando for much of the first half before the Warriors scored a goal in the final 10 minutes of the half for a 2-1 lead. In the final half, Wando pulled away.

However, Fort Dorchester regrouped and defeated Summerville 7-0 in North Charleston March 16.

“After a tough game against Wando it was good to have a game like we had tonight,” Fort Dorchester coach Neil Veloso said. “It is a long season. Our spirits were a little fragile after the way we lost Tuesday, but we know we still have a lot of season left. The guys grinded through a couple of kind of dog days of practice and came out with a good outlook today. Good things happened early tonight and then we feed off that.”

Senior defender Zach Hardin opened the scoring, receiving a free kick from fellow team captain Tristan Veal and heading it into the goal in the third minute. Captain Zinho Ballish-regueiro went on the score three goals for the Patriots while midfielder Logan Burridge scored two. Eric Watson also had a goal.

Mason Mitchell and Noah Montes shared the shutout in goal.

“We had a good team effort and now we are 3-1 in the region going into two big away games,” Veloso said.

The Patriots faced James Island March 20 after press time. They travel to Ashley Ridge for a 7 p.m. match March 23 and host West Ashley at 7 p.m. March 27.

Fort Dorchester is 5-3 overall and four of the wins were shutouts. The other two losses came to River Bluff and North Augusta during a tournament.

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