On Tuesday, February 20, 2024, the Wolverine boys soccer team continued to pave the way for playoff success in a 2-1 win against familiar foe, Reedy, with a goal from sophomore winger Cameron Warner and a Reedy own goal.
“Beating them now, especially with playoffs coming up, is big,” Warner said. “If we can ride a win streak going into the playoffs, it helps a lot with confidence.”
With the Wolverines having conceded the least amount of goals in the district, they relied on their strong defense and counterattack to win the game.
“Reedy has a really good attacking group–they have some good forwards with some good outside midfielders,” assistant coach Esfandiary said. “I think our defense did a great job of locking them down and from there, moving the ball up into the attack.”
After the majority of the first half was a stalemate, Warner lined up to take a free kick from the left wing with eight minutes remaining until halftime. As he struck the ball, he shot it right into the top right corner of the goal and far outside the goalkeeper’s reach.
“It was a pretty great feeling to score [because] there’s nothing like scoring a goal, especially from a tight angle like that,” Warner said.
With Warner’s goal coming off a set piece, the Wolverines’ preparation continued to translate to gameday success.
“Set pieces are always a difference maker because any moment you have control of what’s going on in that instant second,” Esfandiary said. “I think [head] coach Holt does a great job of working with the guys on set pieces and how the success comes out of there. It’s been a difference maker in not just the last game but many in the years past, it has really been an edge for us.”
Despite the Wolverines’ good defensive play throughout the game, the Wolverines let one slip by with 19 minutes left in the game, as Reedy scored off a through ball to one of their forwards.
“Sometimes, we get some disconnection with either communication or who’s responsible for what,” Esfandiary said. “I think we need to go ahead and button that up and that will lock down some of [the mishaps on] defense.”
Fortunately for the Wolverines, in the last six minutes of the game, Reedy had some confusion on defense and made a mistake of their own, leading to an own goal.
Looking to build off the win, the Wolverines are first in district with a 5-2-1 district record and will play Newman Smith at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, February 23, 2024 at Wakeland. Be sure to buy tickets at tickets.friscoisd.org.
“We need to score early like we did last time [because] if we keep waiting and waiting to score, we can let one in, and it goes downhill,” Warner said.
