Despite a strong effort against the Sharks and a goal from senior Liam Wixted, the boys’ soccer team could not overcome Sebastian River, losing 2-1 Tuesday night.

“It’s hard to play with a man down because everyone has to work a lot harder to cover for the man we are missing,” Wixted said. “Although we were a man down and we didn’t  really have a great chance of winning, everyone played extremely hard.”

Around 15 minutes in the game, keeper Allan Joyner received a red card for unintentionally slide tackling the opposing striker for the Sharks in an attempt to save the ball.

“It was a decision I had to make,” Joyner said. ” He got by the defenders, and it turned into a one-versus-one situation. So I stepped out of the box and slid, studs up, towards the kid. Because I was out of the box, it resulted in a red card.”

With Joyner unable to play and back-up goalie, the coaches made a decision to to put freshman right-back Robert Madden in goal because backup keeper Brandon Duncan did not attend the game.

“The coaches put me in and going in, I was really nervous,” Madden said. “I had some big shoes to fill because Allan is actually two feet taller than me and more experienced. I have only played keeper once and that was at practice just for fun.”

Joyner  could be out for multiple games and the school could be fined $250.

The team next plays against Holy Trinity on Friday night with J.V. starting at 5:30 p.m. and varsity at 7 p.m.