Taming the Wildcats times two

The varsity boys soccer team hit the road to travel to Elgin Friday night for a battle against the Wildcats. The boys came into this game in scintillating form. With wins in their past two games, the boys had Elgin in their sights.

The Wildcats, however, weren’t going to make this game an easy one for the Knights.

“Elgin were very active in the attack with fantastic interchanges between players which made it difficult to defend,” varsity coach Nicholas Martin said.

Straight out of the gate Elgin were quick and unrelenting, playing a very physical game and pushing every Mac player to their limit. The first half was a battle of attrition with both defenses holding firm against the attacking onslaught.

Scoreless at the break with a chance to refresh, the Knights still had everything to play for in the second half.

“We kept pushing for a goal and finally got it 20 minutes into the second half,” Martin said.

Score they did, thanks to a little fortune from his first touch, junior forward Luis Auyero slotted the ball through one Elgin defender’s legs and past the goalkeeper.

“This opened up their team shape a bit, which gave us some more opportunities,” Martin said. “We converted a second goal and were able to hold them off.”

The second goal came with a burst forward from midfield by sophomore forward, Silvio Guzman, who danced past one Elgin defender with a little trickery and hammered the ball across the keeper to secure the victory.

“As a team I felt like we could’ve been a bit more physical when it came to defending and holding the ball, but we did really well breaking Elgin’s defense multiple times when we were able to control the ball and build an attack from the back,” junior midfielder Felipe Perez III said.

As Perez noted, this game had no shortage of defensive master classes, with notable contributions from the entire defensive line making sure that the Knights preserved their second straight clean sheet on the road.

The boys lost a tough one 3-2 against Manor at House Park on MLK Monday. The Knights begin district play on Friday against LBJ.

JV edges past Elgin

The JV Knights began the proceedings with a hotly contested back-and-forth match with chances arriving at either end of the pitch.

After going a goal up through Nico Johnston, JV continued to push for a second and were rewarded for their efforts when Caleb Andrews ran through on goal and was brought down in the box, giving the Knights a spot kick and a chance to convert.

Andrews dusted himself off, returned to his feet, and obliged, neatly dispatching the spot kick into the bottom left corner.

Coming into the second half two goals to the good, the boys couldn’t keep the clean sheet they were looking for, conceding a late goal and finishing the game as 2-1 victors.

“The team played great we could’ve easily been five goals up,” junior midfielder Eli Soule said. “We were unlucky conceding a goal towards the end of the game, but the team kept fighting and we got the win.”

Sophomore midfielder Gage Sanchez also recognized the challenge posed by his competitors.

“We fought through the entire game and kept a one-goal lead, but Elgin came out in the second half strong although we were still able to keep them from stealing the win.”

The JV-A boys defeated Manor, 4-2, on goals by Charlie Partheymuller, Caleb Andrews, Milo Froese and Eli Soule. The JV-B Knights fought the Mustangs to a 2-2 draw. Michaelian Trachtenberg scored both goals for Mac.

Like their varsity counterparts, the JV Knights also open district play against LBJ, also at House Park, on Friday.