After an upsetting Senior Night loss to the Wakefield Warriors just a week ago, the Highlanders were set to face them once again in the first round of districts on May 14; a win-or-go-home matchup. The Highlanders were out for revenge, and prepared nonstop for this matchup.
“Ever since Senior Night we’ve wanted them again,” senior Andrew Zhang said. “We know we’re the better team and we’ve been preparing for this game. We know what we have to do, we just have to execute.”
After the first whistle, it was clear that the Highlanders knew what they were doing. McLean was in the driver’s seat from the start, maintaining pressure offensively and staying on Wakefield’s half.
The first half was all square, with McLean getting a couple of shots on goal but nothing to fall. Wakefield was strong on defense, but the Highlanders were stronger. Fast-paced and physical play were the highlights of McLean, not letting anything close to the goal.
With the first 40 minutes in the book, the Highlanders went to the locker room knowing exactly what they had to do.
“We had been getting a ton of shots and attempts but nothing was falling,” Zhang said. “We knew that we had to come out of the half and apply pressure immediately to try and apply pressure early.”
And apply pressure they did, as within one minute of time senior and Virginia Tech commit Luke Hamel had crossed the ball down the line to Zhang, who played the ball back to Hamel for a rolling goal making the score 1-0.
McLean stayed strong, but the defense started to show some cracks after star players like Hamel, senior Carter Courey and junior Josh Barnes had to take a couple minutes on the bench for water. Wakefield took advantage of this and with about 20 minutes to go in the game, found a cross on the right side for a goal, evening the score at 1-1.
Now, McLean was unable to park the bus, and had to find an opening for a goal with minimal time left. However, a mental error gave Wakefield a free kick on the same right side as their first goal with less than 10 minutes to go in the game. After lining up for the kick, Wakefield’s kicker curved the ball right into the right side of the goal giving them the 2-1 lead.
The highlanders now had under 10 minutes left, and had to make something happen. But as they were starting to attack, a blow came when Hamel fell to the ground holding his leg. After a couple minutes of stoppage, the game ensued and McLean started their attack once again.
As the minutes counted down, pressure was enhanced as McLean could not break Wakefield’s defense. Crosses would come in and Wakefield would jump on them. The Warriors were wasting as much time as possible while the Highlanders were speeding up at any chance. However, the clock struck triple zeroes and when the refs blew their whistle, the game ended with a score of 2-1 for Wakefield, leaving McLean’s team sulking on the field.
“We weren’t able to capitalize on the early second half goal,” junior Chase Forde said. “It’s really heartbreaking because we know we’re better than them but we just made a couple of crucial mistakes.”
Although the season has come to an end, the Highlanders still have things to be proud about. They have a lot of talent coming back to the team next year, and the boys will be out for revenge on a lot of teams next year.
“I’m really looking forward to seeing just what we can do next year with most of the starters coming back,” Forde said. “We’re going to have a target out for every team, but especially Wakefield. It sucks for the seniors that we couldn’t get it done but we’ll do our best to get it done for them next year.”
