Wildcats claw Salem Baptist
BY MICHAEL LINDSAY
ENTERPRISE SPORTS WRITER
HIGH POINT —Westchester Country Day needed a few minutes to sweep away the cobwebs. But, once it did, it played some pretty good soccer. The Wildcats scored the first three goals of the game — including two early in the second half — to roll past visiting Salem Baptist 4-1 in Triad Athletic 1A/2A Conference boys soccer Tuesday at Westchester’s
Kennedy Field.
“The rust was there in the first half, but I really liked the way we responded in the second half,” Westchester coach Adam Schwar tz said. “I thought our energy was better, our focus was better. For some reason, I think we were nervous in the first half. “But, then once we ngot that second goal, I thought we really started playing better — aggressive and we really had a lot of opportunities. And the great thingis that it’s the first game all year that we’ve had all 24 guys in the game. We have three games this week, so it was good to give everybody a little rest.”
Max Truschnowitsch scored two goals to lead the Wildcats (2-1 overall, 1-1 TAC), who hadn’t played since Aug.
26 because of class trips and didn’t practice at all last week. Jeremiah Foster added a goal and an assist. Zach Beale also had a goal, while Alen Izic tacked on an assist as Westchester controlled play for much of the game but played with par icular tenac ty during the second half, in which it created a number of scoring looks.
“It felt really good, scoring the goal and hitting the crossbar,” said Truschnowitsch, a junior, of the second half. “In the beginning, it was a little frustrating. But then Jeremiah really stepped up his game and started playing as an engine. The goal kind of stopped us, but we continued playing really well – including all the subs.” Truschnowitsch gave the Wildcats, who outshot Salem 30-3 for the game, a 1-0 lead in the 26th minute off a cross by Izic into the box, where Truschnowitsch finished, that held into halftime. Then, in the second half, Foster scored on a run upfi eld in the 45th minute for a 2-0 lead.
Three minutes later, Foster made another run up the right side and sent a sharp pass to Beale in the center of the box to give Westchester a 3-0 lead. After the Vikings scored in the 63rd minute, Truschnowitsch scored again in the 72nd minute after winning a throw-in and working through a crowd for a goal.
Davis Privette (one save) and Gavin Brumfield split time in goal as the Wildcats embarked on a stretch of six
games in 11 days. Their next game is Thursday at American Hebrew before returning home Friday against Burlington Christian.
“These guys want to play,” Schwartz said. “They want to play games, and I want them to playgames. We can work on things, but we have a lot of games — and they’re conference games. So, we have to getbetter every day. But I like how we’re playing. We’re playing team soccer. “I think we need to be just a little bit more selfi sh at times. I think we over-pass sometimes when we couldshoot. But those are things we’ll work on in practice. And we’re getting everyone healthy. We had some little injuries before the trip. So, I like where we are with that.”
BY MICHAEL LINDSAY
ENTERPRISE SPORTS WRITER
HIGH POINT —Westchester Country Day needed a few minutes to sweep away the cobwebs. But, once it did, it played some pretty good soccer. The Wildcats scored the first three goals of the game — including two early in the second half — to roll past visiting Salem Baptist 4-1 in Triad Athletic 1A/2A Conference boys soccer Tuesday at Westchester’s
Kennedy Field.
“The rust was there in the first half, but I really liked the way we responded in the second half,” Westchester coach Adam Schwar tz said. “I thought our energy was better, our focus was better. For some reason, I think we were nervous in the first half. “But, then once we ngot that second goal, I thought we really started playing better — aggressive and we really had a lot of opportunities. And the great thingis that it’s the first game all year that we’ve had all 24 guys in the game. We have three games this week, so it was good to give everybody a little rest.”
Max Truschnowitsch scored two goals to lead the Wildcats (2-1 overall, 1-1 TAC), who hadn’t played since Aug.
26 because of class trips and didn’t practice at all last week. Jeremiah Foster added a goal and an assist. Zach Beale also had a goal, while Alen Izic tacked on an assist as Westchester controlled play for much of the game but played with par icular tenac ty during the second half, in which it created a number of scoring looks.
“It felt really good, scoring the goal and hitting the crossbar,” said Truschnowitsch, a junior, of the second half. “In the beginning, it was a little frustrating. But then Jeremiah really stepped up his game and started playing as an engine. The goal kind of stopped us, but we continued playing really well – including all the subs.” Truschnowitsch gave the Wildcats, who outshot Salem 30-3 for the game, a 1-0 lead in the 26th minute off a cross by Izic into the box, where Truschnowitsch finished, that held into halftime. Then, in the second half, Foster scored on a run upfi eld in the 45th minute for a 2-0 lead.
Three minutes later, Foster made another run up the right side and sent a sharp pass to Beale in the center of the box to give Westchester a 3-0 lead. After the Vikings scored in the 63rd minute, Truschnowitsch scored again in the 72nd minute after winning a throw-in and working through a crowd for a goal.
Davis Privette (one save) and Gavin Brumfield split time in goal as the Wildcats embarked on a stretch of six
games in 11 days. Their next game is Thursday at American Hebrew before returning home Friday against Burlington Christian.
“These guys want to play,” Schwartz said. “They want to play games, and I want them to playgames. We can work on things, but we have a lot of games — and they’re conference games. So, we have to getbetter every day. But I like how we’re playing. We’re playing team soccer. “I think we need to be just a little bit more selfi sh at times. I think we over-pass sometimes when we couldshoot. But those are things we’ll work on in practice. And we’re getting everyone healthy. We had some little injuries before the trip. So, I like where we are with that.”
