FROM STAFF REPORTS

Chelsea High School boys’ soccer coach Lee Miller reached a coaching milestone Feb. 21 against Pelham as his Hornets defeated the Panthers 3-1, which gave the coach his 100th career victory.

The night didn’t start off well for the Hornets though. About 15 minutes into the contest, Pelham midfielder Cameron Murray ran onto a through ball and ripped a hard shot at Chelsea’s goal. Chelsea keeper Josh Carpenter made a diving save that knocked the ball back across the six-yard box. Chelsea defender Robby Haskins was there to clear the ball, but his clearance hit the hustling Murray and bounced off of him and trickled into the goal. Pelham led 1-0.

It was only a matter of a few minutes before Chelsea found the equalizer, however. Midfielder Taylor Martindale got the ball all the way through to the baseline where he dropped it back into the box to forward Will Bevill who finshed the play and leveled the score at one apiece.

A few minutes later, Chelsea found the back of the net again as this time Bevill found the baseline and dropped the ball to Martindale who punched in his first goal of the season, and Chelsea took the 2-1 lead into the half.

The second half saw Pelham push forward to try to even the score and Chelsea tried to punish them with a counter attack. For a long time, neither side could push through, but finally Chelsea’s Bevill got into the box and was fouled, and the official awarded a penatly kick. Bevill stuck it into the upper left netting to give Chelsea the 3-1 lead.

Despite several promising chances, Pelham couldn’t get another goal and Chelsea held on for the 3-1 win.

“I’m proud of my guys for keeping their poise and getting a big win. We haven’t beaten Pelham since 2007, so it was nice to get this one,” Miller said.

As for the milestone win, Miller said, “I think about all the great kids I’ve coached over the years and I’m happy to have been around for 100 wins with them. I’m just proud to be the coach here at Chelsea because we have great kids here.”