May 6
VIDEO: Martinsville slides past George Washington in Piedmont boys soccer action Thursday
Martinsville’s Juan Argueta and Meraj Naimatullah had a night they’ll never forget. Argueta and Naimatullah each scored their first career goals in the second half to help Martinsville pick up a win over George Washington in Piedmont District action Thursday night …
DANVILLE, Va. — Martinsville’s Juan Argueta and Meraj Naimatullah had a night they’ll never forget.
Argueta and Naimatullah each scored their first career goals in the second half to help Martinsville pick up a 4–2 win over George Washington in Piedmont District action Thursday night.
Argueta found the net midway through the second period when he took a pass from Aaron Flores and finished off his shot on the left side to give the Bulldogs a 3–1 lead. Naimatullah rounded out the scoring for Martinsville (4–12, 3–8 Piedmont) when he found the net on the left side to give the Bulldogs a three-goal advantage.
“It feels good, Aaron [Flores] gave me a good pass, I was running down, looked down, shot it for my first goal,” Argueta said. “It felt good to put it at 3–1 and put a comfortable lead on it.”
“It’s pretty good,” Naimatullah said. “It’s my first goal, it’s my third game and it felt good to get it.”
All in all, Martinsville put four players on the scoresheet. Joining Argueta and Naimatullah were Flores and Hector Murillo who scored a pair of first-half goals that gave the Bulldogs the momentum going into the break.
Flores and Naimatullah had an assist while Argueta chipped in with a pair of assists.
GW (3–4–1, 2–4–1) got out to the early lead when Nizar Ouaami found the net in the opening minutes to make it a 1–0 game. However, Flores knotted the score moments later when he plucked a pass from Naimatullah out the air and volleyed home his shot.
“It was a good over-the-top pass from [Raj] and I just felt it come onto my foot and I hit it pretty nicely into the bottom corner for a goal,” Flores said.
Murillo put the Bulldogs ahead a few minutes later when he finished off a pass from Argueta to make it a 2–1 game.
The Eagles started off the second half strong as freshman Daniel Roman-Amarillo and senior Amando Bautista each fired off early shots but neither found their marks, keeping the Bulldogs ahead. Sophomore Juan Rodriguez kept the onslaught going when he hammered a shot a few minutes later but keeper Ludwin Lopez-Chavez was there for the save.
GW had another chance to knot the score when Rodriguez delivered a solid free kick from outside the 18-yard line, but Lopez-Chavez was there once again with a big save to keep Martinsville in front.
Argueta scored a few minutes later for the eventual game-winner.
Minutes later, Bautista nearly made it a one-goal game when he hammered a shot off a free kick that was saved by Lopez-Chavez.
Lopez-Chavez had nine saves on the night.
The Bulldogs’ defense was on point all evening, denying the Eagles’ offense easy looks on goal.
“Just try to keep everybody in line, keep everybody up, the communication was there and it was good,” said Andy Garcia. “We’ve still got a lot of things to work on but we’ll fix them.”
GW concluded the scoring in the final 10 minutes when Rodriguez drilled a shot from roughly 20 yards out to lead to the final score.
The win marked the second consecutive victory for Martinsville after the Bulldogs defeated Patrick County 2–1.
“It feels great, we’re back in there now, people have been down on us for a while but we’re on a winning streak now so it’s good,” Garcia said.
Naimatullah credited Martinsville’s win against GW to one simple thing:
“Everybody had really good communication with each other and we had good midfielder’s, good wingers, they were going wide and that’s how we won the game,” he said.
GW returns to action tomorrow when it travels to Bassett, Virginia, for a Piedmont road matchup against the Bengals.
Martinsville returns to action Tuesday with a Piedmont matchup against Tunstall.
