The Concord Spiders handed Salisbury its first loss of the season, winning 3-1 in South Piedmont Conference boys soccer Tuesday, Sept. 29.
The victory pushed Concord to 7-0 in SPC play and 9-4-1 overall, keeping the Spiders in first place in the South Piedmont 4A/5A standings, according to MaxPreps. Salisbury dropped to 13-1-2 on the year after entering the match unbeaten at 13-0-2.
Concord broke a scoreless tie in the second half, scoring twice to build a 2-0 lead. One goal came on a converted penalty kick. Salisbury's Kevin Reyes answered with his first goal of the season, assisted by teammate Aboubacar Camara, to cut the deficit to 2-1. Concord scored again within minutes to close out the 3-1 result.
Salisbury head coach Landon Goodman credited his team's first-half effort but said the Hornets could not recover after falling behind early in the second half. "Kevin's goal was an unbelievable strike and gave us a chance to get back into it," Goodman told the Salisbury Post.
MaxPreps named Brandon Lopez-Perez as Concord's player of the match.
The Spiders have won three straight, and their seven SPC victories have come by a combined 28-7 margin. Head coach Strode's squad opened conference play with a 3-0 win over South Rowan on Sept. 8, then beat East Rowan 7-2 on Sept. 10, Carson 4-0 on Sept. 15 and West Rowan 2-1 on Sept. 17. Concord rolled past Northwest Cabarrus 6-1 on Sept. 22 before edging South Rowan 3-2 in overtime on Sept. 24 and topping Salisbury on Sept. 29.
Concord travels to Jay M. Robinson on Thursday, Oct. 1. The Spiders then visit East Rowan on Tuesday, Oct. 6, and Carson on Thursday, Oct. 8, before hosting West Rowan on Tuesday, Oct. 13, and Northwest Cabarrus on Thursday, Oct. 15. A rematch at Salisbury is set for Thursday, Oct. 22.
