Looking to exit non-conference play with a bang, the varsity boys soccer team matched up with a Fairfax Lions side on April 4, looking to right the ship after a recent three-game skid. The game was crucial for the Highlanders, as they hoped to keep their spotless record heading into their biggest stretch of games of the year.
“We got a lot of good work in, and we want to move the ball a lot and keep them guessing,” junior midfielder Mikel Molina said. “It would be great for us to go into district play with all of the momentum.”
Not even two minutes into the game, junior striker Joe Margita found the top left corner of the net to put the Highlanders on top. The goal, a soft lob off the outside foot of the recent Villanova commit, gave McLean an early energy boost while the Lions seemed stunned at the quick score.
The game was operating at roughly half the speed of a typical game—the Highlanders opted to slow down the game after taking the lead, while Fairfax simply could not put any competent offense together against McLean’s stout defensive front.
The Highlanders had two chances off of corner kicks at the 27-minute mark, with the latter producing a goal in an unexpected way. The ball got batted around for a minute before ending up in the goalkeeper’s hands, except it wasn’t meant to be—it slipped out, right to the waiting feet of Margita, who calmly punched it in for a 2-0 lead. Not long after, another broken play ended with senior forward Caffrey Eaton capitalizing to make the game 3-0. The Lions got their first quality chance of the game with four minutes left, but it went sailing through the goalposts. In an American Football game, the score would be tied at 3, but this was fútbol, and the Lions drearily went into halftime trailing by a triplet.
The second half started with more of the same, the majority of the action coming from the Highlanders’ offensive attack. Senior Dante Tosado, who typically plays defense, found himself at the frontline of the offense, barely missing the far post to put the Highlanders up by four. Fortunately, Margita scored quickly after, giving his team a bigger lead and himself a hat trick.
If this game was your first time watching the Highlanders, you would have no idea that Tosado plays defense. He made his mark in the second half with an absolute screamer of a shot that dipped under the crossbar to make it a 5-0 game. Only three minutes later, junior forward Ada Karatepe converted a penalty shot to add a goal. He wasn’t done there, receiving an assist from Tosado in the closing minutes, giving McLean an astonishing 7-0 lead. Although they could not get over the hump to cause a mercy rule forfeit, the game represented a massive victory for the Highlanders.
“It shows how we can dominate a game,” Margita said. “We played particularly well in [staying] composed and keeping our heads. It always feels great putting three goals on the board, but it’s even better that we played well as a team.”