The Long County High School soccer teams split their games Tuesday against Metter High School in Ludowici, with the girls’ squad winning but the boys falling a little short.
The Lady Tide beat the Lady Tigers, 5-2, to improve their overall record to 6-8 and their Region 2-AA mark to 4-7.  Lady Tide coach Darrell Mosley said his team played well on both offense and defense, but he did cite the efforts of two of his players.
“The girls’ team was led in scoring by Samantha Garcia, and it was all held together by the outstanding defensive play of Taylor Poole,” Mosley said. “Sometimes, we don’t give enough credit to the defense, but in this case it was very easy to look across the field and see how much field control Taylor had.”
In Tuesday’s second game, the Blue Tide lost a defensive battle, 2-1, in overtime to the Tigers. Both teams played smart and aggressively and ended regulation tied at 1. In overtime, Metter won in penalty kicks.  
With the loss, the Blue Tide team now sits at 5-9 overall and 3-8 in the region.
“The boys played very hard, and I feel we have really progressed as a team,” Mosley said.
As of Friday, the Metter Tigers were 2-7 overall and 1-7 in the region, while the Lady Tigers are 0-9 and 0-8, respectively.
Though the Long County teams have been eliminated from postseason contention, Mosley said they have improved tremendously this season.
 “I believe in my heart that this has been a great year,” he said. “We have learned so much about playing as a team, and I consider myself lucky to have had the opportunity to coach the great young men and women of Long County.”
The two Long County teams are back on the field Tuesday, traveling to Hinesville to take on Bradwell Institute. According to EUROSPORTscoreboard.com, as of Friday, the Tigers had a 5-8 overall record and a Region 5-AAAAA mark of 4-7, while the Lady Tigers were 6-8 and 5-7.  
Action starts with the girls’ game at 5 p.m.