MEN'S SOCCER
Soccer Strives For Conference RepeatBY SAM SNEED ON SEPTEMBER 16, 2014
The soccer team is coming off of one of the best seasons in the past few years after winning the first conference championship since 2007. Although the team has lost many key players from last season, the team still started off strong winning six out of nine games.
The soccer team started off the season with a loss to Laney; however, after that game the team went on to improve in every game they played. This included a win against Millbrook High, marking the first win against a team from Raleigh in almost 20 years. The team has been playing well says senior Chris Jester after the first game against Laney. They have had one win and one tie against Washington and had a 7-1 win against South Central. They also came back to tie the game against cross town rival Conley in their first conference game. The team has 11 seniors this year. These current seniors are playing a key role in the current team. That will be a hard gap to fill next year, but the team is not worrying because they are focusing on the season at hand. “It feels good; we have a lot of momentum going in and a lot of good players,” Jester said. “I’m looking forward to another good season and another good championship.” Last year was the team’s first year in a new conference, and with the change in conferences came a change in the team’s record. The team went from a record of 1-15-1 in the old Wilmington conference to a record of 12-8-1 last year in the new conference. Last season included a conference championship and a state tournament bid. Although the team lost the first game of the state playoffs, it was still a season that will stick with them. “We lost a lot of good people, but I think because we have a lot of confidence and that last year still gave us a lot more confidence to win another one this year,” junior Alaa Qatabi said. Another thing that changed last season was the coaching staff. Coach Jed Smith stepped in to take over for Coach Charlie Harvey who had coached for almost twenty years. “We have Coach Jed who stepped in, and he has been great,” Jester said. “He has gotten us a lot of great preseason games and has just helped a lot.” Coach Smith filled into the spot by winning the conference with a good record. The team has played 9 games so far and has a record of 6-1-2. Qatabi said they have been playing very well recently, and have a lot of players contributing to the team’s success. This season has been a strong year for the team with a record of 6-1-2. Their only loss as of right now is against Laney, which is a team that they used to play in the old conference. The team has continued to grow off of last years conference championship as the record stays high. HTML Comment Box is loading comments...
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