FARMVILLE — Holding a two-goal lead, the Southside soccer team looked to be cruising to its sixth-straight win, but a late-game collapse saw the Seahawks lose to Farmville Central, 4-3, on Wednesday for their first loss of the year.

Southside (5-1) needed some time to adjust to Farmville Central’s (1-5) speed on Wednesday, but once it did, it found itself in control of the match. Trey Branch opened the scoring for the Seahawks in the opening half, pouncing on a Johnathan Hernandez throw-in that bounced in the Jaguars’ box and volleying it home into the goal. Luke Matthews added another for Southside off of an assist from Bryan Gutierrez Hernandez. Farmville scored a goal of its own, making the score line 2-1 going into halftime.

The Seahawks continued its good form in the second half, getting a goal from Jairo Juarez, who broke in on goal and scored an unassisted goal to give Southside a 3-1 lead. Even after taking a two-goal lead, the Seahawks kept up the pressure on Farmville. Southside created several good opportunities to build upon its lead, but the Seahawks’ finishing failed them.

Southside’s inability to kill the game off came back to haunt the Seahawks, as the Jaguars scored three goals in the final 10 minutes to win the game. Farmville began its rally from a set piece, scoring off of a corner kick to make the score 3-2. Perhaps from feeling pressure from being in a close game for the first time all season, the Southside defense suffered a couple of mental lapses that led to the Jaguars’ final two goals. Miscommunication between Seahawk goalkeeper Johan Prado and his backline allowed the ball to end up in the Southside net twice in the final minutes, brining the Seahawks’ winning streak to an abrupt end.

Southside head coach Jay Petty said his backline was put under more pressure against Farmville than any other game so far this season, and it was a good learning moment for his team. Along with working on communication among his defenders, Petty said if his team seized its chances in the second half, the late-game collapse wouldn’t have mattered.

“Going forward, we had so many opportunities in the second half that we just never capitalized on,” Petty said. “Had we capitalized on those, them scoring three goals in the last 10 minutes wouldn’t have much of a difference, I don’t think.”

Southside will look to get back to its winning ways next Tuesday when it hosts West Craven.