By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — First half goals by Ben Myers and Jossue Alcaraz powered Watauga men’s soccer to a halftime lead on Oct. 4 at Jack Groce Stadium. Then the Pioneers held off a determined Ashe County squad to secure a 2-0, Northwestern Conference win.
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It was a necessary victory for the Pioneers, to get them back above .500 for the season — and back into contention for a Northwestern Conference championship and potential playoffs berth. After getting by South Caldwell, 2-1, to open conference play on Sept. 21, the Pioneers suffered consecutive defeats to Alexander Central (4-3, in overtime on Sept. 25) and Hibriten (3-1, Sept. 27) before evening their conference record with a 3-0 win at Freedom on Oct. 3.
Myers goal game within the first three minutes of play on Oct. 4 vs. the Huskies, a well-place worm-burner just inside the left post. Alex Aguilar was credited with an assist.
A senior, Alcaraz took a crossing kick from sophomore teammate Myers several minutes later to get the Pioneers’ second goal, another well-placed ball.
Watauga had several other scoring opportunities that were turned aside by Huskies senior goalkeeper, Henry Aguilar, who was credited with eight saves on the night as the Pioneers kept pressure on the goal.
Afterwards, Ashe County head coach acknowledged the loss but said he was proud of his players fight.
“I expected a hard fought battle from both sides,” said Jamison Klein, Ashe County head coach after the game. “They have a senior heavy roster and I know they bring a level of physicality to their play. Out boys played really well. We are very young with several freshmen and sophomores on our varsity roster. The halftime score was 2-0. We made some adjustments at halftime and the final score was 2-0. We upped our physicality in the second half. If we had played that way in the first half, it would have been an even tighter ball game. We are looking forward to facing Watauga again up at our place.”
Watauga head coach Josh Honeycutt values energy and effort in his players, but said afterward that some of his players were only giving a 75 percent effort in the second half.
“When we have starters giving only playing at 75 percent effort and we have guys on the bench wanting to get on the field and give 100 percent, I am going to use those guys on the bench and we did that today,” said Honeycutt.
“Ashe County is much improved,” the Watauga coach added. “Several of those guys have come through High Country United’s program and they are really helping to elevate the high school team’s play. It is a young team, getting better with each game.”
“At moments tonight, we looked really good,” said Honeycutt. “At other moments, we kind of fell into what the competition is doing, so not so good. In the first half we possessed really well and moved the ball really well. That created good scoring opportunities and we took advantage of a couple of them, which is enough to win the game. But I told the guys at the end that we have to finish. We can’t go into halftime with a lead and think that is enough.
With the win, Watauga improves its overall record to 5-10–1 and Northwestern Conference record to 3-2. With the first half of the team’s NWC schedule now complete, they’s start the final half on Oct. 9 with a trip down to South Caldwell before a first revenge opportunity at Alexander Central on Oct. 11. The next home match will also be a turn-the-tables affair vs. Hibriten, on Oct. 16. They’ll have another home match against Freedom on Oct. 18 before finishing the regular season in Jefferson at Ashe County. For any realistic hope for an NCHSAA 4A playoff berth, they must win out, especially against Alexander Central and South Caldwell.
Ashe County falls to 3-9-2 on the season, 0-4-1 in Northwestern Conference play. The Huskies host Alexander Central on Oct. 9, then travel to Lenoir to face Hibriten on Oct. 11.
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