South Warren used quickness and defense to stifle the Hopkinsville Tigers in the 2nd half, as the Spartans handed the Tigers their first loss of the soccer season Tuesday night at the Stadium of Champions. The Spartans scored a pair of goals in each half on their way to the 4-1 victory.
The match was a scoreless battle until South Warren’s Emir Ibreljic broke open on the left hand side and blasted a shot into the net to put the Spartans up 1-0 at the 27:30 mark. Ibreljic took a pass in front of the goal just over five minutes later and drilled one past Hopkinsville goalie Xavier Bussell to extend the lead to 2-0.
The Tigers appeared to grab some momentum right before the half when Tyler Greenwell recovered a deflection in the box and drove a shot past a diving goalie to cut the lead to 2-1.
However, the momentum was short lived after the second half got underway. South Warren’s Eldin Velic, after nearly losing control of the ball, spun and found the corner of the net to push the lead back out to 3-1 at the 57:00 mark. The Spartans would later add a penalty kick at the 60:00 mark after the Tigers were called for a hand ball in the box to close out the win.
The story in the second half was the Spartans’ ability to get back on defense and limit the number of scoring chances for Hopkinsville.
The Tigers were limited to four shots on goal for the night, while the Spartans managed to get off sixteen shots in the match. Hoptown goalie Xavier Bussell was credited with four saves on the evening.
With the loss, Hopkinsville falls to 1-1 on the season. The Tigers will return to action Thursday evening on the road at Murray.