On the evening of Tuesday, Feb. 12th, the varsity boys set out to play a very important eighth district match at Cedar Ridge. Both teams were the contenders for the number one spot in the Round Rock District, but the Westwood Warriors came out on top 3-1.

During the first half, the game was looking quite bleak for the Warriors, as the Raiders were running a high offense formation. The Raiders were taking many shots on the goal and not allowing the Warriors to get into their groove. About 20 minutes in, this unfortunately took its toll on the Warriors. After a quick succession of shots by Cedar Ridge, just one slipped past goalkeeper Justin Lang ‘20, which put the Raiders up 1-0.

The Warriors were tense and held on to the one goal deficit until halftime. At half time, Coach Stefano Salerno expressed his disappointment in the boys’ performance during the first 40 minutes, but only because he knew they were not playing at their full potential. The players and coaches discussed and recognized just what was going wrong during the first half and were able to come up with a plan for the second as well as get their heads right.

Halftime quickly ended, and all the players rushed back onto the field. The scoreboard began ticking down from 40 and the Warriors had a mission. They quickly ramped it up, scoring two goals in the first 10 minutes of the second half, which brought the score to 2-1, in Westwood’s favor. The first goal was by Niko Djordjevic ‘21 and the following by Jack Elliot ‘19, who scored off a header which landed directly in the upper 90 of the goal. These two goals seemed to wipe away the tension from earlier in the match, and the boys began playing a lot more proficiently, keeping the ball on the Raiders’ side for a majority of the second half.

The third and final goal of the game was by Felipe Centeno ‘19, about 20 minutes deep into the second half. This raised the boys’ lead to 3-1, and put the Warriors far ahead of the Raiders on the scoreboard, and miles ahead in morale. The once rowdy and unruly Raiders began slowing down as the second half came to a close, and eventually admitted defeat, 3-1.

The varsity boys’ soccer team will play their next game against the Hendrickson Hawks on Friday, Feb. 15 at Hendrickson.