CHOCOWINITY — Facing a relentless barrage of shots from the Coastal Plains Conference’s top offense, Southside goalie Chris Reiner did all he could to keep his team in the match, saving even the most well-placed shots, but in a losing effort. The Mariners attack broke down the host’s defense in the second half, as the Seahawks dropped their third match in two weeks, 3-1, on Wednesday night.

Loss aside, head coach John Lohman had nothing but positive words for his keeper, who finished with a season-high 17 saves and preventing what would have otherwise been a blowout at home.

“We saw shades of it last year in the playoffs,” Lohman said. “This year he’s just been getting better and better. Without him in the goal doing what he’s doing, we wouldn’t be winning games.”

For the Southside defense, the game plan was to contain Mariners striker Ben Lasky, who picked apart the back line in the last meeting between the teams on Oct. 8, a 7-1 East Carteret victory in Beaufort. In the first half, Reiner and the Seahawks defense did just that.

“(Fullback) Ethan Harris was marking (Lasky), who is an excellent player,” Lohman said. “Last time we played them he just ran free. We would overcommit on him and he would have people wide open in front of the goal. Tonight we tried to slow him down and clog it up. Our outside fullbacks did a good job of carrying the ball out.”

As both teams exchanged possessions early, all three of Lasky’s scoring opportunities in the first 30 minutes were extinguished by Harris, center defender Keegan Wiggins or Reiner, who had seven saves in that timeframe. East Carteret’s midfield was solid, limiting Southside to just three shots in the first half. Two Juan Cruz crosses found midfielder Devin Guzman with seven minutes to go in the half, but the offense could not capitalize.

Despite being outshot 14-3, Southside and East Carteret remained scoreless at the break.

The shooting continued for the visitors in the second half, but the first goal did not come from a Mariners’ foot. Eight minutes in, East Carteret’s Cameron Harding whiffed on a cross in the box and David Romero, who was already crashing towards the net, accidentally kneed the ball into the net for an own goal.

Four minutes later, the Mariners notched their first legitimate goal of the night. Harding laid a hooking cross inside the box, connecting with an incoming Lasky, who headed the ball on the run and into the upper right corner, giving his team a 2-0 advantage.

Lasky and Harding kept the pressure on, recording four shots in four minutes, until a 35-yard blast from Lasky slipped in between the post and the outstretched hand of Reiner, giving the Mariners a commanding 3-0 lead.

But with nine minutes left, a cross from Guzman tipped off a defenseman’s head and found Luke Matthews in front of the net. Matthews blasted a shot on the ground and to the left of the keeper.

East Carteret finished with 27 shots to Southside’s six and preserves its spot atop the conference with the win. With the loss, the Seahawks fall to 9-5 (1-3 CPC) heading into Thursday’s host match versus Lejeune.