By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — Admitting that nobody is happy with a losing outcome, Watauga varsity men’s soccer head coach was pleased with the effort and intensity of his Pioneers in a 1-0, non-conference loss to visiting Cox Mill on Sept. 14.
“You never want to lose, obviously,” said head coach Josh Honeycutt after the game, “but I truly feel that this is the best we have played so far this season, really since the Ardrey Kell game. We are starting to figure some things out, defensively. The quality of play was there tonight. We probably should have had at least one goal, probably two. When the ball is bouncing around in the box, we need to do a better job of clearing it out, but when you make it a 1-0 game against a very good opponent instead of a 5-1 loss last time out, we are making strides in the right direction.”
Watauga has one more non-conference game, an 11 a.m. affair vs. Cuthbertson on Sept. 16 at Jack Groce Stadium, looking to improve on the team’s 2-7-1 start.
For Honeycutt and the Pioneers, though, it is all about the preparation. He intentionally schedules state playoffs-caliber opponents in the early season to get his team prepared for the Northwestern Conference slate.
“Our primary goal is to win a conference championship, which gives us a better seeding should we make the state playoffs,” said Honeycutt. “Facing those types of playoff quality teams early gets us ready. Our guys know that.”
Indeed, the 2022 edition of the Watauga varsity opened with a non-conference slate in which they went an identical 2-7-1 in non-conference, but finished the season 13-9-1 including a 9-1 record in winning the NWC conference championship before losing to Weddington in the third round of the 4A state playoffs.
