On Tuesday, Feb. 27, the varsity boys soccer team played against the McNeil Mavericks, ending the game in a 1-0 loss. With their starting goalkeeper Owen Plug ‘24 back in the game after months on the bench recovering from an injury, the Warriors eagerly awaited to see what Plug was going to bring back to the field. 

“I’m feeling a lot better,” Plug said. “[Playing] helps me feel like I have a little bit more control over how our season goes. I’m excited to be playing tonight, I think the game will go well. I’m hoping we can get a win out of tonight and keep our playoff hopes alive.”

The game started swiftly with McNeil kicking off and the Warriors transitioning to defense right away. However, Westwood was able to keep the ball away from the goal as Pablo Zavala ‘24 had multiple headers that kept the ball around midfield. Not long after that, the Warriors started transitioning more to offense with Zavala bringing up the ball and working with his teammates to execute give-and-goes, which is a triangle formation of players passing back and forth. The Warriors continued to advance down the field with a breakaway from Shalin Lakhia ‘24. McNeil attempted to take the ball but Ishaan Saini ‘26 was able to stop it. For the rest of the first half possession of the ball switched back and forth between Westwood and McNeil, with neither team able to score, ending the half with a 0-0 draw. 

“We kept possession really well, we worked all week in practice [on keeping possession],” Saini said. “We executed really well, but we just couldn’t score.”

Jack Cox ‘26 started off the second half and the Warriors gained possession of the ball. Cox became a more prominent player in the second half, and displayed skilled ball control. Within the first 10 minutes of the second half, Caleb Fagan ‘25 was subbed out for Daniel Goolsbey ‘24 due to a potential injury, limiting the Warriors options off the bench. So far in the half, Westwood controlled possession, and was able to gain the ball in a dangerous area. Unfortunately, with just 10 minutes left in the game the Mavericks were able to knock in a goal, bringing the score to 1-0. After Beau Bryant ‘26 had a strong attempted goal, the Warriors lost possession for the rest of the game, solidifying their loss. 

“The mindset was to score as quickly as possible [after McNeil scored] and to get up the field,” Saini said. “We played really well but we just got unlucky at the end, [but] we’re gonna keep fighting till the end [of the season], and anything can happen. 

The varsity boys soccer team will take on the Stony Point Tigers on Friday, March 1, at Stony Point at 7:30 p.m.