On Thursday night, McLean’s boys varsity soccer team took on Mount Vernon. The team was coming off a strong performance against South Lakes, where they won 6-0, and looked to continue their dominance.
The Highlanders were on the attack from the first whistle. Several good chances were created and despite none being converted, it was clear McLean was on the front foot.
The scoring drought ended after 15 minutes when senior forward Ada Karatepe received the ball at the top of the box. He made a quick turn past the Mount Vernon defender and fired a rocket across his body into the top right corner of the goal to put McLean up 1-0.
McLean dominated possession of the ball after Karatepe’s goal. Strong midfield and defensive play led to Mount Vernon being unable to get the ball into McLean’s half. Chances continued to come, but poor finishing plagued the Highlander forwards, and the half ended with the same 1-0 score from the 15th minute.
The second half started similar to the first, with McLean continuing their domination of the midfield, producing promising attacks. McLean was awarded a corner kick 10 minutes into the first half. Senior defender Mikel Molina whipped it into the box to senior Titus Powars, who landed a perfect header, raising the score to 2-0.
“I understood the advantage that I had being the tallest kid out there,” Powars said. “I was able to just get a touch on it off the back of my head, and it went in the back of the net.”
The next few minutes were more of the same with the Highlanders dominating all facets of the game. With about 25 minutes left in the half, Karatepe was fouled and knocked down by a Mount Vernon defender, leading to a short brawl between the two teams in Mount Vernon’s half of the field. It was clear that the Highlanders, in their dominance, were frustrating the Mount Vernon players.
Chances came at a premium after the fight. Neither team could get far into the other's territory, and the game seemed to be coming to a close. However, with four minutes left, McLean won a corner which senior midfielder Rafael Cabral headed home to finish off the game 3-0.
“It was a dominant game in our favor as we expected,” head coach Leeland Jameson said. “Two of our goals came directly off of set piece plays that we had practiced in training, so I was really happy with that.”
The 3-0 margin, albeit impressive, seems to be scratching the surface of McLean’s prowess as defending Northern Region champions.
“We were hoping to get a few more goals,” Jameson said. “We want to disguise our shots, so we have to be able to deceive the keepers and mix up techniques.”
The Highlanders are set to play their next match on April 1 at home against Washington-Liberty, where they look to add to their three-game winning streak.
“We were obviously the better team [tonight],” Powars said. “We just need to keep trusting in ourselves, and the goals will come.”
