On March 5, the boys soccer team, both varsity and JV, played against Mount Vernon at McLean High School in their second scrimmage of the season.

“[Scrimmages] are extremely important and are not a waste of time,” said freshman Josh Barnes, a JV center-midfielder. “They allow everyone on the team to show their individual skills, [plus] there isn’t as much at stake so there is less pressure to take risks.”

With a comprehensive strategy already prepared, the Highlanders expected nothing short of victory against a substantially weaker foe.

“Mount Vernon is coming off of a worse record than our previous team,” Barnes said. “However, we can’t go into this scrimmage thinking it will be an easy game. Anything can happen: they could have a very strong freshman class,so we will have to be ready for anything.”

McLean finished the night with a decisive victory for both varsity and JV, scoring an impressive 5-0 and 13-0, respectively. However, according to Barnes, winning wasn’t the main goal of these scrimmages. Instead, McLean sought to foster team development and gain experience for more important games in the future.

“We [wanted to focus] on pressing as a team,” Barnes said. “Our coach said we need to keep a triangle formation in the midfield. We do [that] by communicating and covering for each other if one of us falls out of place.”