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NICEVILLE — A strong Niceville boys soccer team was too much for Crestview to handle Thursday night in a District 1-4A contest.
The Eagles used an aggressive and attacking style of play to stymie the Bulldogs on both ends of the field.
When the final whistle sounded the Eagles had a 4-0 win over Crestview.
Crestview coach Scottie Milton said the Bulldogs (0-2, 0-2) were unable to match the strength of the Eagles.
“Niceville is one of the top teams in the state and they came out pretty physical this game,” he said. “We really couldn’t match their physicality that they had. We just have to get a little better.”
Niceville (1-1, 1-0) drew first blood less than 10 minutes into the match when Colton Savage scored after a mad scramble in front of the net.
For a while it looked as if the Savage goal would be the only one of the first half as both defenses stiffened. But in the final minutes of the half Matt Worthen scored on a penalty kick to extend the lead to 2-0.
A Joey Bohler goal early in the second half pushed the Eagle lead to 3-0. Parker White finished off the scoring midway through the second half.
The Bulldogs were never able to get their offense untracked and had just four shots on goal the entire game.
Niceville coach Wes Nelson was pleased with his team’s performance, but said the Eagles still have plenty of room for improvement.
“We did OK,” he said. “We’ve been working on a lot of things. We’ve got a long ways to go, but I saw some good things out there tonight. This is a step in the right direction, but we aren’t anywhere close to the finished product.”
Nelson also said it was big for the Eagles to open district play with a win.
“We want to keep ourselves out of a hole in district,” he said. “We understand it’s going to be difficult and so we are happy with this one.”
The Bulldogs play their home opener Tuesday at 7 p.m. The game will honor Crestview soccer player Markos Papadopoulos who died an a traffic accident in August.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview soccer falls to Niceville