No.1 Myers Park holds off No.3 Providence in season opener
Coming off a heartbreaking loss in the 4A state championship game, Myers Park opened up the 2019 season ranked No.1 in the west in the HSOT Top 25 Soccer rankings this preseason. The Mustangs posted a 20-3 overall record last season.
Myers Park opened up their season tonight hosting long time out of conference rival Providence in a matchup that contained two of the top teams in the state. The Mustangs defeated the Cougars 2-1 with help from Myers Park's Matthew Guarda, the junior was responsible for the deciding point in Wednesdays matchup.
Turning Point
The match seemed to go back in forth up until the start of the second half; with the Mustangs gaining some momentum early in the second half thanks to a beautiful Killen Thomas cross field pass to Matthew Guarda for the Mustangs score. From then on out Myers Park seemed to have a new poise and confidence which it didn’t have before; even a lightning delay didn’t stop them from getting back on track. “In that first half we didn’t defend, we didn’t attack as well as we needed too...we learned from it at halftime and also from the lightning delay,'' said Head Coach Bucky McCarley about his team's change of play come the second half.
Interview with head coach Bucky McCarley
Key Players
Mustangs goalkeeper Martin Godwin came up huge down the stretch in his first ever varsity start for the Mustangs. Highlighted by a pair of acrobatic saves in response to the Cougars late game push, the junior also contributed on offense with a rare assist to Cam Peterson.
On the other side of the field, midfielder Cam Peterson proved to be the biggest problem of the night for the Providence defense. The senior midfielder put the Mustangs on the board first with a strike from outside the box.
Providence forward Damien Rhodes scored the Cougars only goal with 1 minute left in the first half.
What does it mean?
Home openers are typically hard to read compared to the long season ahead, but winning the first game in front of your home crowd is never a bad sign. With picking up the first win of the season, Myers Park seemed to shake off any potential rust from a long offseason.
As for Providence, going against the 4A state runner up gives the cougars the chance to see where they are at as a program and what areas they need to improve moving forward.
What’s next?
Myers Park will host Olympic next Thursday night.
Looking further down their schedule, the Mustangs have a huge out of conference contest vs. No. 2 South Mecklenburg. The best two teams out west in the HSOT preseason rankings should make for an intriguing and competitive matchup come Sept. 10.
Providence has two more games this week. Friday night they’ll travel to Durham for the NC Soccer Coaches Association Kick Off Classic where they will play Northern on Friday night and Broughton Saturday morning.
