FAIRHOPE, Alabama - The Daphne Trojans scored two goals while playing with a man down en route to a 2-0 win over arch rival Fairhope Pirates at W.C. Majors Field Friday night

The 2-0 win for the Trojans continued the success they have experienced so far in the early part of the season; they improved their record to 7-2-2. The win over the Pirates gives them their first region win on the season.

“It doesn’t matter what the records are. Fairhope versus Daphne is always going to be a burner. Going down a man with five minutes left in the first half doesn’t help. We had to regroup in the second half and play with one forward and we had to play a little more defense,” Trojan head coach Rick Andrew said. “I told them at halftime if you want to be something special, this is how you do it. This was their biggest win against Fairhope.”

Both teams had their chances in the first half, but it wasn’t until the 4:32 mark in the first half when the game took another route in favor of the Trojans. With the Pirates in control of the ball streaking towards the Trojan goal, senior Joseph Lieb committed a tactical foul bringing on a yellow card. Shortly after making the call the referee was prompted to flash a red card as Lieb continued to argue the call.

The red card forced Lieb to be ejected from the game leaving the Trojans to play with a man down for the rest of the contest.

“It was not a smart move on his part. He is a senior, playing in a big game and he lost his head," Andrew said. “He apologized as soon as he did it. The referee made the right call with the yellow and Joe made the bad call by running his mouth. Young people have to learn from that.”

Just a few minutes later the Trojans scored off a deflection by senior Josh Gurvitz which passed the Fairhope keeper for the first goal of the contest.

Both teams had their chances early in the second half with nothing to show for it until the 27:00 minute mark when the Trojans scored their second goal of the game. Senior Tyler Cook scored on a header off a corner kick to give them the 2-0 lead.

“It was a set play off a corner kick. Josh served a great ball in and Tyler our big strong sweeper came in and had a great header for a goal,” Andrew said. “That is how you’re supposed to do it; we practice those plays day in and day out. Set plays in soccer determine if we win or lose a lot of the times. Today we scored on two of them so it was a nice win for us.”

Senior goal keeper Will Carpenter also had another big night for the Trojans compiling six saves for the Trojans.

“To me he is being overlooked by some big schools. I feel he is a big time keeper. He is a four year starter and leader,” Andrew said. “He made some big plays for us tonight."

With the loss the Pirates fell to 1-3-5. A game of unfulfilled chances for head coach Bob Keyser and the Pirates also has been a reoccurring theme.

“We’re disappointed; they wanted it a little more tonight,” Keyser said. “I have to get a more complete effort as we move forward. We are a good team and we play well, but the bottom line is you have to finish.”

Both Fairhope and Daphne are scheduled to play again on Tuesday night. The Pirates will host Robertsdale while the Trojans visit Spanish Fort to play the Toros. Both games are scheduled for 7 p.m.