LUMBERTON — Two years ago it was a 97th-minute goal scored by Enloe to break a scoreless tie in overtime. Last year, Green Hope scored twice in the first five minutes of the second half to make the difference in a one-goal outcome.

Thursday, it was a 30-second sequence midway through the first half that proved pivotal for the Lumberton boys soccer team as the Pirates fell yet again in the second round of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association 4A state playoffs.

Laney scored twice in that span and led the rest of the way, beating the Pirates 5-1 to eliminate Lumberton.

“You get to this point in the season, you’re going to see a different level of teams that play in different conferences, that are battle-tested,” Lumberton coach Kenny Simmons said. “I’m proud of our guys — I thought we competed and hung in there with them, and did some good things out there in the course of 80 minutes, but in the end it just wasn’t good enough for us.”

No. 23 seed Laney (14-7-2) got on the scoreboard when a Buccaneers corner kick bounced around the box until it was knocked into the goal off the Pirates goalkeeper.

Then, just 30 seconds later, Alan Acree scored Laney’s second goal of the match for a 2-0 lead with 23:20 left in the half.

“The first goal we gave up was a soft goal,” Simmons said. “Uncharacteristically, Isaac (Juarez) had a bad keeper play on that one. And then they scored a second goal that was a pretty nice buildup and a pretty nice goal that they scored, well earned.”

Seventh-seeded Lumberton (22-7) scored with 16:13 remaining in the first half when Angel Robles was fouled in the box and Mark Ramirez converted on the penalty kick, successfully finding the right side of the goal.

“At 2-0, man, I was thinking, ‘we’re in trouble, man,’ but then we came back and cut it to 2-1 on the penalty kick after Angel got fouled in the box and Mark Ramirez stepped up and hit it for us, and gave us a little lifeline,” Simmons said. “We were in the game for a period of time, we competed, but they bagged a third one and it just made it that much more difficult.”

That third goal came when Laney made its own penalty kick, as Mason Israel found the net with eight minutes left before halftime; the score remained 3-1 at intermission.

Addison Woodcock scored both second-half goals for the Buccaneers; both shots found the net after being deflected by the Pirates.

Lumberton had a handful of second-half scoring chances, but was unable to cut into the Buccaneers’ lead.

As the Pirates lost in the second round for the third straight season, Simmons noted that facing teams that have advanced in the playoffs is typically a tall task.

“We played a very good team,” Simmons said. “I hate to say it sometimes, but you get to certain points of the season and you run into somebody that’s just better than you. They were a very talented team, I’m very impressed with a couple of their players individually, and they posed some problems for us that we didn’t have the answers for.”

Lumberton ends its season after winning its third consecutive United-8 Conference regular-season championship.

Laney will face No. 15 Apex Friendship in the third round on Monday; Apex Friendship defeated No. 2 Green Level 2-0 Thursday.

Jets fly past St. Pauls

The St. Pauls boys soccer team lost 5-0 to Jordan-Matthews in Thursday’s second-round 2A state-playoff game.

No. 3 Jordan Matthews (15-1-2) led 2-0 at halftime before scoring a third goal about 10 minutes into the second half.

“We tried to make adjustments at halftime, see if we could could create something,” St. Pauls coach Brent Martin said. “We gave up a third (goal) 10 minutes in, and then you see heads drop. … It’s hard to rally the troops from 3-0.”

No. 19 St. Pauls (12-9) kept the game scoreless until the Jets scored in the 27th minute; Jordan-Matthews took a 2-0 lead with nine seconds left in the first half.

“We fell asleep on a throw-in,” Martin said. “That made the mountain to climb even bigger.”

The Bulldogs had no shots on goal in the game and just one total shot. Martin estimated that 85% of the game was played in the Jets’ attacking half of the field.

“When we did get the ball we couldn’t hold onto it, couldn’t keep it,” Martin said. “We may have gotten a steal Monday against James Kenan, but we got found out tonight.”

St. Pauls was seeking to advance to the third round for the first time in school history.

Instead, Jordan-Matthews will be the one to face No. 6 Wallace-Rose Hill on Monday, who defeated No. 11 Midway 3-0 Thursday.