McClain boys soccer defeats Waverly in tournament play
McClain's senior soccer players are shown before Monday night's play-in tournament game vs. Waverly. (HCP Photos/Jim Jones)
It was a battle of the Tigers on Monday night on McClain Field when Greenfield hosted Waverly in a first-round tournament play-in game, and when the final horn sounded, it was the Tigers wearing purple and gold who advanced on, after an impressive 7-0 victory for MHS.
Senior Westley Smith scored three goals for a third straight game to lead the McClain scoring attack.
“Westley (Smith) said after our last game when he scored three goals that he wanted to get three hat tricks in three straight games, and it was pretty cool to see him do that tonight,” said McClain head coach Nick McNeal.
Smith got the scoring going with his first goal at the 36:41 mark of the first period, and fellow senior Brice Graham scored moments later on what looked to be an impossible goal when he was surrounded by Waverly defenders.
“Brice (Graham) had to really fight through four guys in the middle to get that goal. He really had to work for it,” McNeal said.
Smith scored two more goals next, just minutes apart, to put McClain up 4-0, and Creed Davis finished off the first-half scoring with a goal at the 6:07 mark off a deflected shot in close to the goal.
“Creed (Davis) is just getting back after being out with a concussion, and you could see he really wanted to score that goal,” said McNeal.
McClain finished off the scoring in the match with two second-half goals, one by Graham (his second) and the final one by Seth Weller on a really long shot that the Waverly keeper didn’t want any part of.
“Seth (Weller) had a really good game for us, and the goal he scored in the second half was an absolute banger that their keeper got his hands on but wasn’t able to handle, it was a great goal that was moving very fast,” said McNeal.
“Overall, I thought we played a great team game. Jobe Lugo was awesome in the midfield winning every ball, and our two fullbacks Jordan Lugo and Kenton McGlone did a fantastic job making some big plays. Jaxson Crago and Ethan Howard also did a great job for us playing in the back row stopping several scoring threats.
“Just a great game by everyone, and our defense was fantastic, allowing us to get everyone in the game tonight,” McNeal continued. “Brynnen Babbs, our keeper, had to make some great stops in goal when Waverly had several opportunities to score.”
McClain plays next when they travel to Athens on Wednesday, Oct. 18.
