On Thursday night, the McLean boys varsity soccer team traveled to Herndon for a long anticipated matchup with the Hornets. Last year, Herndon barely beat McLean, so the Highlanders were out for revenge. This was obvious throughout the match, with the physicality becoming greater and greater as the match went on.
“The keys today were having good energy,” senior forward Joe Margita said. “Our defense has been great, just focusing on not letting them score. When we don’t let a team score, we’re bound to get at least one goal and win.”
The first half saw back and forth action between the two teams as they jockeyed for position on the pitch. Margita got a great opportunity to score after a Herndon defender got a red card for punching the ball over the net. It was about to be a clear goal for the Highlanders on a corner before the Herndon defender punched it out. Margita got to shoot a penalty kick after the red card but was stonewalled by the Hornets goalkeeper.
“I missed the penalty kick but I think we were all saying, forget it, worry about it the next game,” Margita said. “The mindset was just to be positive, keep the ball and one goal will come eventually.”
The one goal came in the second half when senior defender Mikel Molina striked for the Highlanders. The strike buzzed past Herndon’s goalkeeper quicker than lightning and the Highlanders finally got the 1-0 advantage they were scouring for.
“Tactically, we thought, let’s keep possession a lot more and swing them side to side because their strikers were back and forth and tiring us out,” Margita said.
The Highlanders were able to lock down on defense and cause Herndon to force passes into lanes that were blocked by McLean’s layered defense. The Highlanders made sure to keep possession of the ball whenever they had the chance to limit Herndon’s opportunities. This was achieved through crisp passing and communication.
“I was impressed with the whole backline tonight,” head coach Leland Jameson said. “Mikel got the golden goal for us, and I couldn’t be happier with all of the work our defense put in tonight.”
The Highlanders stayed conservative on the pitch as time started running down. The three whistles finally sounded as the Highlanders breathed a sigh of relief and went to celebrate with one another at mid field. It was an impressive win versus one of the best teams in Northern Virginia. The win will help the team’s confidence going into the home stretch of the season and the playoffs.
“We are looking to improve every day,” Jameson said. “For us, as long as we keep improving day to day, there's not an opponent that’s going to be able to beat us.”
