On Tuesday, March 5, the varsity men’s soccer team lost their last home game of the season against the Manor Mustangs, ending the game 2-1. Following senior night activities, Mauricio Solano ‘24 performed the national anthem for an eagerly awaiting crowd.
“I think we will win, we’ve put in the work in practice and we’re ready,” Neel Kakkad ‘24 said. “[We worked on] not making the same mistakes as last time. We [watched] film on our last game and the last game we played them and get better from it.”
After almost four years of practicing guitar, Solano was given the opportunity to perform on stage with the band Green Day. After his performance with the band he tried to find opportunities to perform at games, ultimately he was unsuccessful during football season but was able to snag a spot in the schedule for soccer during senior night.
“I just let my fingers speak for me, you know,” Solano said. “I can be really shy when I’m talking in public but when I have the guitar it’s easy for me, and I can just show my emotions.”
Swiftly after Solano’s performance, the game started with the Warriors gaining possession of the ball quickly. With an abundance of slide tackles and pushing, the beginning of the game was full of fouls and free kicks. Braden Wilson ‘24 had many breakaways in the beginning of the game, giving the Warriors opportunities to score.
As the game increased in intensity, Wilson upped his game, dribbling around multiple Manor defenders to inch the ball closer to the goal. Not long after that, the Warriors went on defense momentarily, but Miguel Ruiz ‘24 had a breakaway that left the Mustangs in the dust, giving Westwood the advantage once again.
Nearing the end of the half, senior Goalkeeper Aakash Nagarahalli came onto the field to play, which is a very rare occurrence to see in a soccer match, but since he was a senior his coach wanted to give him one last chance to make a couple of plays in the Warrior Bowl. The Warriors ultimately walked off the field for halftime tied 0-0 with the Mustangs.
“The highlight of the game was seeing more seniors play, for example Aakash, who plays keeper, got to play in the field today which was enjoyable,” Caleb Fagan ‘25 said.
After the game resumed, the Warriors edged on the side of defense more than they had in the first half. However, after a couple minutes, Westwood was able to quickly get back in their groove with more offensive plays and attacks. At this point in the game, it was very tense with the Warriors pushing for a goal, but almost all attempts were deflected by Mustang defenders. Unfortunately, 10 minutes into the half, the Mustangs were able to score.
Fagan scored a trivela shot with just 5 minutes left in the game, bringing the score to 1-1 increasing the Warriors’ hopes of gaining a win. To the Warriors dismay, however, Manor was able to score with just under a minute left, crushing Westwood’s hope of getting in another win for the seniors.
“I think I did great on my goal,” Fagan said. “I was able to capitalize on a mistake by [Manor’s] back line and put us back in the game. “I was extremely excited to score, it was a great feeling knowing that we had a chance to win it on senior night, if only we won that game I think the seniors would have really appreciated it. I think that it definitely was unfortunate to lose, especially on senior night. We conceded on plays that could’ve been prevented and the second goal was very unlucky. It was a winnable game, it just never seems to go our way.”
The varsity boys soccer team will take on the Vandegrift Vipers at 7:30 p.m. for the last game of the season this Friday, March 8, at Vandegrift.