Culp, Westchester boot Caldwell, 1-0
BY MICHAEL LINDSAY
ENTERPRISE SPORTS WRITER
HIGH POINT — Westchester Country Day kept creating scoring chances, thinking at some point one had to end up in the back of the net. And eventually one did.George Culp scored the lone goal in the 70th minute as the Wildcats
defeated rival Caldwell Academy 1-0 in NCISAA Triad Athletic 1A/2A boys soccer Friday night at Kennedy Field to finishoff the first undefeated season in program history.
“I just knew we had to get one,” Westchester coach Adam Schwartz said. “Once we had one, I thought we’d be pretty good. George Culp — he’s done it all year. The seniors love him. He just does his role, and he’s living the dream. He scores a goal or has an assist in almost every game. He just plays so hard.
“Our energy was really good tonight. Obviously, the emotions of Senior Night were there. Their keeper played really well and made some great saves, especially in the first half. But we just wanted to keep pounding, keep winning balls in the middle, keep attacking and keep the pressure off our defense.”
Culp, a freshman, took a pass from Marc Farahmand near midfield and quickly dribbled upfield. Working through two defenders, he took a shot area to the left post with just under 11 minutes left in the game.
“I just took a big touch and ended up getting around the guy,” Culp said. “Taking one out to the side and just tried to hit it cross-goal, and it popped right in. ... I looked back and saw the two guys, so I was going to look for a teammate. But the way the defenders defended it, it worked out that I could take it.
“The seniors and everybody played so great, and thedefense and midfield played so great,” he said of his reaction
to scoring the goal. “So, it felt so good to get a goal for them on their Senior Night — it’s just so awesome.”
Westchester (14-0-1 overall, 9-0-1 TAC) had been pressuring well throughout the game — outshooting the Eagles by a 26-8 advantage for the game — but were stopped or narrowly missed on a handful of great chances.The intensity grew witheach passing minute, and Caldwell (8-7-1, 5-5) managed a couple dangerous looks of
its own that would’ve completely changed the outlook of the game. Instead, the Wildcats grabbed a hard fought
lead late.
Davis Privette finished with five saves in goal, as the Westchester defense held firm even as the Eagles
pressed forward in the closing minutes.
“We just wanted to keep winning balls in the middle of the field,” Schwartz said. “If we could win balls in the middle, then we could attack with our speed out wide. And I thought we did a really good job of doing that in the
second half. They got a little tired, I think, because they didn’t sub as much as we did.
“So, every time we play them, it’s going to be a close game,” he said, pausing to chuckle as his players’ rowdy
cheers emanated from the team’s locker room. “It’s Senior Night and it’s always going to be a close game — no matter who’s the better team. And I’m glad to come out on top.”
The Wildcats, who had already wrapped up their fi rst conference title since 2007, will get a bye in the opening round of the conference tournament. They’ll play the Salem Baptist-Burlington Christian winner Thursday at
Westchester. The TAC championship match will be Friday at Westchester. The 2A state playoffs begin Tuesday, Oct. 17 at the higher seeds. The top four seeds will get byes into thequarterfinals.
In the meantime, though, Westchester will enjoy this one.
“This is huge,” senior captain Alen Izic said. “We’d already clinched the conference championship. But that’s not what we were here for. We were here for pride — this is a big rivalry game. We knew they were going to come out hard.
“We had a much easier time at their place, but we knew they wanted to come in and spoil this. I could tell how much this meant to the guys. And to see my best friends kill themselves to get this, it was amazing.”
BY MICHAEL LINDSAY
ENTERPRISE SPORTS WRITER
HIGH POINT — Westchester Country Day kept creating scoring chances, thinking at some point one had to end up in the back of the net. And eventually one did.George Culp scored the lone goal in the 70th minute as the Wildcats
defeated rival Caldwell Academy 1-0 in NCISAA Triad Athletic 1A/2A boys soccer Friday night at Kennedy Field to finishoff the first undefeated season in program history.
“I just knew we had to get one,” Westchester coach Adam Schwartz said. “Once we had one, I thought we’d be pretty good. George Culp — he’s done it all year. The seniors love him. He just does his role, and he’s living the dream. He scores a goal or has an assist in almost every game. He just plays so hard.
“Our energy was really good tonight. Obviously, the emotions of Senior Night were there. Their keeper played really well and made some great saves, especially in the first half. But we just wanted to keep pounding, keep winning balls in the middle, keep attacking and keep the pressure off our defense.”
Culp, a freshman, took a pass from Marc Farahmand near midfield and quickly dribbled upfield. Working through two defenders, he took a shot area to the left post with just under 11 minutes left in the game.
“I just took a big touch and ended up getting around the guy,” Culp said. “Taking one out to the side and just tried to hit it cross-goal, and it popped right in. ... I looked back and saw the two guys, so I was going to look for a teammate. But the way the defenders defended it, it worked out that I could take it.
“The seniors and everybody played so great, and thedefense and midfield played so great,” he said of his reaction
to scoring the goal. “So, it felt so good to get a goal for them on their Senior Night — it’s just so awesome.”
Westchester (14-0-1 overall, 9-0-1 TAC) had been pressuring well throughout the game — outshooting the Eagles by a 26-8 advantage for the game — but were stopped or narrowly missed on a handful of great chances.The intensity grew witheach passing minute, and Caldwell (8-7-1, 5-5) managed a couple dangerous looks of
its own that would’ve completely changed the outlook of the game. Instead, the Wildcats grabbed a hard fought
lead late.
Davis Privette finished with five saves in goal, as the Westchester defense held firm even as the Eagles
pressed forward in the closing minutes.
“We just wanted to keep winning balls in the middle of the field,” Schwartz said. “If we could win balls in the middle, then we could attack with our speed out wide. And I thought we did a really good job of doing that in the
second half. They got a little tired, I think, because they didn’t sub as much as we did.
“So, every time we play them, it’s going to be a close game,” he said, pausing to chuckle as his players’ rowdy
cheers emanated from the team’s locker room. “It’s Senior Night and it’s always going to be a close game — no matter who’s the better team. And I’m glad to come out on top.”
The Wildcats, who had already wrapped up their fi rst conference title since 2007, will get a bye in the opening round of the conference tournament. They’ll play the Salem Baptist-Burlington Christian winner Thursday at
Westchester. The TAC championship match will be Friday at Westchester. The 2A state playoffs begin Tuesday, Oct. 17 at the higher seeds. The top four seeds will get byes into thequarterfinals.
In the meantime, though, Westchester will enjoy this one.
“This is huge,” senior captain Alen Izic said. “We’d already clinched the conference championship. But that’s not what we were here for. We were here for pride — this is a big rivalry game. We knew they were going to come out hard.
“We had a much easier time at their place, but we knew they wanted to come in and spoil this. I could tell how much this meant to the guys. And to see my best friends kill themselves to get this, it was amazing.”
