On Thursday, March 28, 2024 and Friday, March 29, 2024, Wakeland soccer continued the strong defense with the girls winning 7-0 against W.T. White High School and the boys winning 2-0 against Mesquite Poteet High School. In the girls game, freshman forward Dilan Pistorius led the way with three goals, and senior defender Ava Yocum, sophomore forward Audrey Gilbert, junior midfielder Emma Sapp, and senior midfielder Zara Pasha each scored a goal. Contributing to the boys win, junior midfielder Jack Minsky led the team with two goals.

“Defensively, just staying connected and communicating with each other and making sure that we are all on the same page [helps],” sophomore goalkeeper Avery Winston said.

In the girls game, Pistorius was the first one to find the back of the net off an assist from Gilbert with 31 minutes left in the first half. Seven minutes later, sophomore defender Sofia Rodriguez sent in a beautiful corner and found Pistorius in the middle before Pistorius put the ball into the left corner of the goal.

“It was a great feeling because I’m [only] a freshman, and it was really cool to have the hard work pay off,” Pistorius said.

Only about a minute after the second goal, Yocum put the ball into the right corner after senior midfielder LG Moncrief’s touch. Into the second half, Gilbert struck the ball into the left corner with about 30 minutes left of the game. Extending the lead, with about 17 minutes left, Pasha placed the ball into the right corner of the goal from outside of the box. About five minutes later, Sapp also took a strike from outside of the box and delivered the ball into the left corner. In the closing minute of the game, Yocum crossed the ball from the left side before Pistorius finished, giving her a hat trick on the night.

“We combined really well together, and we have good team chemistry, so it’s easier for us to get goals,” Pistorius said.

In the boys game, Minsky’s first goal was a header off a throw-in from senior defender Brendan Fernandez with about 30 minutes left of the first half. With both teams playing well on defense, the next goal did not come until the second half. With about 36 minutes left of the game, senior midfielder Thomas Hayes setup Minsky for his second goal.

“I’m always looking for Minsky, and we play really well together,” Hayes said. “We’re good friends on and off the field, so that chemistry helps us score goals.”

The next playoff games will be tonight against Walnut Grove High School with the girls playing at 6 p.m. and the boys playing at 8 p.m. at McKinney Boyd High School. To show your support, you can buy tickets at tickets.friscoisd.org.

“[We need to] keep being able to play hard in games because they’re just going to get tougher and tougher,” junior defender Evan Tucker said. “[We need to stay] mentally focused and not get [relaxed] and think that we won.”

“[We need to be sure to] continue to keep our energy high, still be able to communicate with each other, and go into it with confidence,” Winston said.