Despite a hard-fought battle, the Highlands School varsity boys’ soccer team fell to Brevard in its home opener, last Thursday, 6-1.
The Highlanders got things started early on with a corner, but the ball went over the top of the goal.
With 37:02 left in the first half, a penalty was given to Brevard. The ball was launched into the 18-yard box, but goalkeeper Sam Stiwinter was there to scoop it up.
Four minutes later, Stiwinter had a huge save after Brevard sent a through ball between the Highlander defense.
With 27:23 minutes left, Brevard threw the ball in down the right-hand side to one of their forwards who dribbled to the edge of the 18-yard box and shot the ball just passed Stiwinter to make it 1-0.
A hand ball by the Highlander defense set up another chance for Brevard on the left corner of the field, but the shot banged the crossbar.
Owen Munoz was able to get past the Brevard defense to set up an opportunity in the box, but the cross went untouched across the middle.
With eight minutes left in the half, Brevard sent a cross in the center of the penalty area. Brevard connected but hit the crossbar. Just after the attempt, a Brevard forward settled the ball five yards outside of the 18-yard box and sent a screamer past Stiwinter to the right upper 90 corner of the goal to make it 2-0.
Stiwinter came up big again with three saves in the last five minutes of the first half.
In the last minute of the half, Stiwinter had a save that sent the ball wide right, setting up a corner for Brevard. With no one marked on the back post, a Brevard forward put it in the goal, ending the half 3-0.
The Highlanders came out recharged in the second half with a shot from Ronaldo Factor, but it was blocked by the Brevard keeper.
With 36:20 left in the game, Factor sent a through ball right between the Brevard defense setting up Highlander captain Jeffrey Olvera who snuck it right past the keeper to get The Highlanders on the board, 3-1.
Brevard answered two minutes later with a goal of their own to make it 4-1, with 34:44 left in the match.
With 33 minutes left, the ball bounced around the Highlander penalty area until it hit the post and a Brevard player followed through to increase the lead 5-1.
The Highlanders didn’t give up, with two shots from Factor and Olvera, but they went straight to the hands of the Brevard keeper.
To end the scoring effort for Brevard, a through ball was sent into the 18-yard box and past Stiwinter with 21 minutes left in the game.
The Highlanders held on for the rest of the game, with one other shot by Owen Munoz and a header that went over the goal by Win Dyleski.
“I think our guys played with a lot of heart,” HHS head coach Caleb Brown said. “They haven’t had a lot of practice, but they came out in a good shape and form. They were moving comfortably on the ball, and it did take about 15 minutes for the other team to put the ball in the goal and it was honestly a fluke.”
Brown said the team is young, with many players that haven’t played soccer before.
“A lot of the players were out there just getting the feel for it,” Brown said. “We haven’t been able to have a lot of practices and we haven’t been able to go over some of those fundamental skills, but overall, I think they did good coming out in the first half.
With only 12 players on the roster compared to Brevard’s 25, Brown said conditioning is going to be a huge factor for The Highlanders.
“We have 14 players total, but we had a couple out due to a card suspension from last year and one that is getting a physical,” Brown said. “With them having 25 players and us only having 12 was really rough. You could see that we were circulating the same subs over and over again. Overall, we need to work on conditioning because you could see that we were getting a little gassed.”
The overall theme for this season, according to Brown, is figuring out the best way they can work together as a team.
“We had some great highlights and moments tonight,” Brown said. “We strung some passes together, breakaways and shots on goal, but we weren’t able to put them in. The more that we work with a touch and passing on the ball, that is really going to help us hone our skills.”
The Highlanders (0-1) take on Summit next Thursday at Summit.
- By Christopher Smith