Wolverines were victorious again in a 3-2 overtime thriller against West Mesquite in the Area Championship.  In the game, they played with confidence as they navigated through new and familiar experiences with the help of senior leadership.

After conceding the first goal of the game in the first half, the team stayed confident and were aggressive to try to tie the game.  Before the end of the half, they were rewarded for this with junior midfielder Thomas Hayes scoring.  

“[West Mesquite’s]  lack of communication made it hard for them to follow our movement in the final third,” senior midfielder Cameron Skiles said.  

In the second half, the Wolverines continued to move well with and without the ball and looked for another opportunity to score.  The second goal finally came near the end of the second half from senior defender Arnav Kaul.  With him mainly being tasked with defending, scoring was a new experience for him.

“As a defender, I rarely have chances to score in games, so scoring that goal, especially in such a big playoff game, was an amazing feeling,” Kaul said.  “I’ll definitely remember that for a long time.”

Unfortunately for the Wolverines, their celebrations had to wait with West Mesquite scoring a few minutes later.  

As the second half came to a close with the score tied at 2-2, the Wolverines kept their heads raised high as they were headed to a familiar place, overtime.  

“Already going through overtime and penalties in the first round gave us more experience, so we were able to stay composed and unbothered,” Skiles said.  

As they kept their focus in overtime, they found their winning goal from the play of two seniors.  With speed and accuracy, defender Austin Dunker crossed the ball from the left side to midfielder Nicholas Holloman in the middle to give the Wolverines their third goal of the game.  

“When I scored, I was hit with an instant shock of excitement once I saw the ball hit the net,” Holloman said.

With the Wolverines having the lead again, they knew that they could not let their emotions get the best of them and needed to play well until the end.

“When we scored the third goal, we were extremely pumped, but we knew we had to finish off those last few minutes and not give up our lead like we did in the second half,” Kaul said.

The Wolverines then maintained their lead until the end and won another playoff game.  But this game was not just a win: it was the first time that they scored more than two goals since their 7-2 win against Creekview on March 3, 2023.  

As they look to keep the momentum going, they play Reedy, an opponent they faced twice in district play, in the Regional Quarterfinal today at 7:30 p.m. at Children’s Health Stadium in Prosper.  

“We just have to keep up the pressure, keep pressuring their backline, and make sure we shut down some of their best players in midfield and on the wings,” junior defender Davis Word said.

To show your support, you can buy tickets at tickets.friscoisd.org.