With four games remaining, the Raider soccer team has already matched its win total from last season.
The Raiders (6-6) downed Jefferson 4-0 Tuesday for their sixth victory of the season.
“We played fairly well, dominated possession and kept the ball in their end much of the game,” coach Trevor Mangan said.
Madison County has now shut out its past two opponents as it strives to get over the .500 mark. The Raiders are scheduled to resume play Friday at Winder-Barrow.
Though the offense sputtered at times during the first half against Jefferson, Ben Ortman buried a full volley off of a corner kick to put Madison County ahead 1-0 at halftime.
Kyle Carr scored his first career goal in the second half, off a header on a corner kick, and Ortman struck again by “hitting a beautiful free kick that he bent over the wall and kissed off the near post,” Mangan said, to put Madison County up 3-0.
“The goalie never had a chance,” Mangan said.
Senior Russell Adams capped the scoring — as described by Mangan — by “hitting half-volley from the corner of the box that he dipped backpost to beat the keeper upper ninety.”
Mangan said his team’s work on set pieces Monday in practice paid off.
Ian Webster had three assists off of corner kicks, and Madison County’s other goal game from a set piece as well.
Defensively, keeper Ryan Woods posted his second shut-out in a row.
Madison County blanked Elbert County 4-0 Saturday behind goals from Ian Webster, Ben Ortman, Crew Mayne and Jesse Bennett.
“The score could have been much worse, as we hit the post several times during the game,” Mangan said.
Overcoming a sluggish start, Madison County kept possession of the ball and pinned Elbert on its end of the field.
The victory followed what Mangan called “the most frustrating game of the year from my standpoint.”
Madison County lost 3-1 to Clarke Central the night before, a game in which Mangan called the team “completely listless for the entire first half.”
The Raiders gave up three “soft goals,” Mangan said, before Ortman converted a penalty kick to pull the team within 3-1 of Clarke Central at half.
Madison County played with more conviction in the final 40 minutes, but couldn’t erase the deficit.
“I was frustrated because we are a much better team than we showed during the first half,” Mangan said.
Prior to that, Madison County picked up a region win March 18, beating Rockdale County 3-2 behind two goals from Ortman and another from Brandon Wilson.
Wilson supplied the first goal, beating the keeper while the goalie was out of position.
“He showed good awareness to hit the ball early before the keeper could recover,” Mangan said.
Ortman scored the second by finishing a rebound from a shot by Crew Mayne that hit the post and the third goal that proved to be the difference in the game.
“We were very streaky during the game, playing well for spurts of time and playing poorly for periods of time,” Mangan said. “The defense let up two soft goals, but played OK for most of the game.”
