LUMBERTON — After struggling through the first half and trailing by one goal at intermission during Monday’s first-round 4A state playoff match, Lumberton soccer coach Kenny Simmons told the Pirates that if they didn’t play harder in the second half their playoff experience wouldn’t last much longer.

“Halftime, we just challenged these guys and said y’all don’t want it bad enough,” Simmons said. “There’s not a whole lot we can do different other than just going out and playing with a little more effort and heart and determination, and we did that we raised our game a little bit. That was the difference, and we started creating chances in the second half.”

And, finally, in the last 15 minutes of the match, the Pirates converted two of those chances, resulting in a 2-1 victory to advance to the second round.

Hoke County (14-10-1), the No. 26 seed in the 4A East Region, led 1-0 after 65 minutes of soccer. Seventh-seeded Lumberton (22-6) scored the equalizer on a counterattack by Angel Robles, who connected from 22 yards out with 14:20 remaining.

“I just had to take it. I saw an open shot, I had to take it, and I made it right in there,” Robles said. “We needed that energy to score more goals.”

“At our pace with Korbyn and Angel, we’re a good counterattacking team, and that was one of the times we caught them,” Simmons said. “Angel can be a threat running at anybody with the ball at his feet, and he was able to find a little space to get his shot off and finish the chance.”

The Pirates kept peppering the goal with shots over the rest of the match, and got a corner kick with just over two minutes remaining. Lumberton loaded the six-yard box and Mark Ramirez’ kick found the head of Ethan Stevens, who deflected the ball forward into the goal to take a 2-1 lead. Stevens, a defender, scored for just the second time all season.

“We ran ‘six’, my favorite corner play,” Stevens said. “Mark played a beautiful ball to the middle and luckily I was there with no one on me, and just got it right in, slid it right past the keeper.”

Hoke County built its 1-0 lead when Dinari Bascombe scored on a header seven minutes into the match. The Bucks controlled the possession for much of the rest of the first half.

“At the start of the game, they were killing us with possession and I feel like we got caught in their pressure,” Stevens said. “But then towards the end of the first half we started picking up more, and at the start of the second half, that’s when everything changed for us, and that’s when we got all the momentum.”

The Pirates made a formation change about 15 minutes in, increasing from three defenders on the back line to four, and kept Hoke County out of the net for the rest of the match.

Lumberton will host No. 23 Laney (13-7-2) in the second round at 6:30 p.m. Thursday; the Buccaneers defeated No. 10 Overhills 6-0 Monday.

“We’ll do our homework and regroup and try to get ourselves ready to play the game — find out who our opponent is and do a little bit of scouting if we can, and try to get these guys ready to go for Thursday,” Simmons said.

St. Pauls upsets James Kenan

The St. Pauls soccer team earned a road playoff win in the first round of the 2A state playoffs when the Bulldogs beat James Kenan 4-3 Monday in Warsaw.

St. Pauls (12-8) scored two second-half goals to take a 4-2 lead, then held on after James Kenan (12-6-3) scored a goal midway through the second half.Gamaliel Silvan Cordova and Jordan Rodriguez scored St. Pauls’ two goals after halftime.

Silvan Cordova also scored the game’s first goal about 20 minutes in; the Tigers tied the game at 1-1. St. Pauls took the lead again with five minute sleft in the half on an Omar Canuto goal off a free kick. James Kenan tied the game at 2-2 with 10 seconds left in the first half.

“(That’s a) big win for us,” St. Pauls coach Brent Martin said. “James Kenan was No. 10 in the final RPI for 2A East. It was a surprise upset for them — it was a surprise upset for me.”

The Bulldogs play Thursday at No. 3 Jordan-Matthews (14-1-2) in the second round; the Jets beat No. 30 South Lenoir 7-1 in Monday’s playoff opener.