One perfectly-executed goal and exceptional defense gave the White House High boys soccer team its first victory of the season on Saturday evening.
The Blue Devils claimed a 1-0 win at Gallatin.
White House lost two one-goal matches to Brentwood and Hendersonville, improving to 1-2.
Gallatin dropped to 2-1.
Austin Blansett scored White House’s only goal, after receiving a pass from Matthew Smith. His shot slipped by Gallatin goalkeeper Deonte Kensinger and into the back of the net.
“It was a good ball,” Blansett said. “Credit Matthew. My team was distributing the ball really well.”
The game’s only goal came in the 13th minute.
From that point on, it was a defensive battle. The Green Wave attacked White House’s goal several times and created scoring opportunities, but White House’s defense responded.
“Hats off to Gallatin,” White House head coach Mark Lamberth said. “They had some fantastic counter-attacks tonight. I thought, full-field play, we played very well. I thought they really did well on counter-attacks, and we did pretty fair on being in the right place at the right time.”
White House High senior Mark Lees dribbles upfield.
The Green Wave had several shot attempts off of counter-attacks in the second half, but they couldn’t find the goal.
“We had some opportunities, but the overall way the game went, we’ve got to get a little more possessions,” Gallatin head coach Greg Harper said. “We’ve got to get more in control of things, and we didn’t do that tonight. I thought they controlled the game with their midfield. We didn’t do a very good job of responding, even though we did create some chances on some counter-attacks. I thought we probably should have had maybe one or two, but they could look back and say they probably should have had more than one.”
The Blue Devils also created opportunities, but the Wave stopped all but the one goal.
“We build defense first, and we want to distribute and attack out of the back,” Lamberth said. “Once everybody finds where they’re supposed to be, we could be all right.”
Even after losing the first two matches, Lamberth said his team never got down.
“Even after the tough loss last night (Friday evening’s 1-0 loss to Hendersonville), I could not wait to see their eyes when got ready to leave at 4:30,” Lamberth said. “There was no pouting in their eyes. The confidence was there. Our warmup was good, and we played well against a good team. The biggest thing is, we’ve had three good workouts against three quality teams on three quality fields in one week. One and two doesn’t matter.”
Harper said that Saturday’s match was a matchup against a program that has reached the Class A-AA State Tournament in three consecutive seasons (2011-13).
Gallatin High junior Noah Lawler dribbles near midfield.
“It’s developed into a rivalry the last 5-10 years,” Harper said. “They’re a tough test. They outplayed us tonight. We didn’t do the things that we needed to do. We’ve got to keep getting better.”
Both teams will begin district play this week, with White House hosting Westmoreland on Tuesday. Gallatin plays a non-district match at Merrol Hyde Magnet on Tuesday before opening District 9-AAA play at Portland on Thursday evening.
>> Hendersonville captured a 3-0 victory over White House Heritage in Saturday’s earlier match at Gallatin High.
The Commandos improved to 2-1, producing a shutout for the second consecutive night.
Seniors Darius Campbell, Reed Coffman and Thomas Roberts scored.
Hendersonville hosts Rossview on Thursday evening.