On Tuesday, February 27, 2024, the Wakeland boys soccer team extended their winning streak to four games in a 2-1 victory against Lone Star High School with a Lone Star own goal and a goal from senior midfielder Thomas Hayes. With the win, they remain atop the district standings and improve to a 7-2-1 district record.
“It was a great feeling to beat Lone Star and get the win,” Hayes said.
In the opening few minutes of the game, Lone Star was the first one to find the back of the net. After a long ball down the field, Lone Star dribbled down the side before crossing the ball into the middle. They then beautifully flicked it over Wakeland senior goalkeeper Adrian Rodrigues, giving them the lead. After the early goal, Wakeland continued to be down a goal for the rest of the half, causing them to make some adjustments at halftime.
“We were struggling to score and find the back of the net, so tactically, we were making a couple changes,” junior midfielder Evan Tucker said. “We put a couple more attacking players into midfield and then tried to get the ball on their weaker side.”
Looking to bounce back from their halftime deficit, Wakeland played aggressively in the second half to tie the game. With about 36 minutes left in the game, Tucker lined up to take a free kick from midfield. After striking the ball, he delivered the ball right into Lone Star’s penalty box, only for it to find a Lone Star player. However, Lone Star had a misunderstanding, resulting in an own goal.
“It was pretty far away, so I was just trying to put it close to where my teammates are able to get it or [force] an own goal,” Tucker said. “That definitely gave us a lot of momentum and worked Lone Star down.”
Going into the closing minutes, the score remained tied, and Wakeland kept the pressure on to find a scoring opportunity. They were then rewarded for this with Hayes scoring off a cross from junior midfielder Jack Minsky with about a minute left.
“Getting the win for the team in the last minute, it’s a lot of fun,” Hayes said. “I was shouting at him for the ball…and then I just had to put it away.”
As the winning goal came off a Minsky cross, his ability to put his teammates in good positions paid off.
“When I am dribbling, I am just looking for that ball that can give them an easy finish,” Minsky said.
As they look to increase their winning streak, they will play Turner High School tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Wakeland with tickets available for purchase at tickets.friscoisd.org.
“We need to keep the right mindset and not get too cocky even though we just beat our rival and are on a four game win streak. We have to just still show up to practice and do the things that we need to do,” Tucker said.
