The No. 9 Wilde Lake boys soccer team has proven themselves time and time again this season. The Wildecats have flown from under the radar to compete with the perennial powers in Howard County.
On Tuesday evening, they proved that they are a very good team, coming-from-behind to collect a 2-1 victory over visiting, No. 10 Reservoir.
“I knew it was going to be a dog fight [today],” said Wilde Lake coach Matt Pickett. “We’re undefeated so far and we haven’t had a season like this since before I started coaching, probably since I played here [in 1996] and I know that we’re going to get everyone’s best game from here on.”
Junior forward Devon McNeel and senior defender Brian Duff scored goals for Wilde Lake. Jason Seinfield and junior Timothy Bryson each had an assist.
With the win, the Wildecats improved to 9-0-2 overall and 7-0-1 in league play. Wilde Lake is tied with No. 3 River Hill for the top spot in the league.
“Nobody believes that we should be on top of the county,” said Pickett. “Everyone is talking about the other three schools, we’re undefeated and they’re still talking about the other three schools, so we have to prove a point.”
He added: “This win wasn’t pretty but we’ll take it.”
The Gators (8-2-1, 5-2-1) got on the board first in the 25th minute when junior Jimmy Rager slipped behind the defense, carried a ball serviced by senior Nick Bonner. Rager fired the ball high into the far post.
Despite out-shooting Reservoir 8-4 in the first half, Wilde Lake struggled to finish plays until McNeel finished off a wild play.
Matt Flyr crossed the ball and it was headed toward the goal by Zach Johnson. Reservoir goalie Michael Lombard (five saves) made the stop, pushing the ball which caromed off of the crossbar. Seinfeld headed the loose ball over to McNeel, who finished with a header of his own.
The score remained tied at 1-1 until late in the second half. With 4:00 remaining, it looked like the Wildecats scored after the ball was pushed past Lombard but a Reservoir defender kicked the ball out of the goal.
On the ensuing throw-in, Duff finished a pass from Bryson to give Wilde Lake the win.
Reservoir won its first eight decisions of the year but has hit a rough patch over the last week, losing twice and tying another game.
“I think we are just trying to find our identity right now,” said Gators coach Paul Linkins. “We’ve had a tough six days with Marriotts Ridge on Friday, Centennial on Monday and we had this game today. We have River Hill on Thursday so we’re taking it one step at a time.”
CLICK RELATED VIDEOS AT TOP OF ARTICLE FOR GAME HIGHLIGHTS!
| No. 9 Wilde Lake 2, No. 10 Reservoir 1 | ||||||||||||
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| Goal: R-Rager; WL-McNeel, Duff. | ||||||||||||
| Assists: R-Bonner; WL-Seinfield, Bryson. | ||||||||||||
| Saves: R-Lombard 5; WL-Evans 6. |
