Starting a new season with a different coach is always a challenge. Although the boys’ soccer team took on the challenge and emerged as a successful powerhouse. The Titans went 21-2-2 overall, finishing first in the conference and won the CPC championship and temporarily ranked extremely high at the national level. The NC Soccer Coaches Association awarded Key players all-state honors. The recipients of the awards included senior forward team captain Haegan Paschold and senior defender Omar Brahim. Brahim was also awarded CPC Defensive Player of the Year by the coaches of the CPC.
An astounding seven players received all-conference honors this year. Those included were junior midfielder Ethan Barghout, Brahim, senior center Ryan Penaloza, junior defender David Perez, senior striker team captain Abiel Lopez-Dominguez, Paschold and senior midfielder Josh Mendel-Alaya. Coach John Blake was very pleased with the team’s performance.
“I could not have asked for any better. It has been a great opportunity to coach these guys, great leadership all around and a very talented team,” Blake said.
A big success of this season was creating an amazing bond as a team. Team chemistry was an issue at first, but as the season went on, they started trusting each other more and became a cohesive unit. Lopez-Dominguez, who was second on the team in goals with an impressive 24 goals, was a huge help in paving the way for the team’s success and team bonding this year.
“I think the season was pretty good overall, but we always grow from our mistakes and become a better team by the day,” Lopez-Dominguez said.
The team made the state playoffs as the number one seed and won in the first round against South Caldwell 9-0. In round two, they played Charlotte Catholic and had a heartbreaking loss with a score of 2-1.]
“What’s done is done. We’ve learned from our mistakes and will bounce back stronger,” Barghout said.
The team is keeping their heads high going into next fall after an overall fantastic season. With many key players still being juniors, the team is looking strong and ready to fight a hard fight next season.
