Luke Hunter wins the ball against the Spartans on Oct. 12.
Keowen Arguello (#21) runs free down the sideline, chasing down a through-ball on Oct. 13.
Watauga defenders successfully repel a South Caldwell attack in their own penalty box.
Jossue Galan (Jr.) looks into the Patriots penalty box for teammates to pass to on Oct. 13.
Pioneers goalkeeper Kyle Painter (Jr.) makes a save on a shot from a Spartan attack on Oct. 12.
On Thursday, Oct. 13, Keowen Arguello puts his back towards Freedom's Chase Whitaker in order to shield the ball from him.
Luke Hunter (#8, Sr.) battles with South Caldwell forward Ricky Flores (#7, Sr.) on Oct. 12.
Stryker Wards races past a Freedom defender on Oct. 13.
Luke Hunter (Sr.) shields a South Caldwell player as he wins possession for Watauga on Oct. 12.
Luke Hunter wins the ball against the Spartans on Oct. 12.
Keowen Arguello (#21) runs free down the sideline, chasing down a through-ball on Oct. 13.
Watauga defenders successfully repel a South Caldwell attack in their own penalty box.
Jossue Galan (Jr.) looks into the Patriots penalty box for teammates to pass to on Oct. 13.
Pioneers goalkeeper Kyle Painter (Jr.) makes a save on a shot from a Spartan attack on Oct. 12.
On Thursday, Oct. 13, Keowen Arguello puts his back towards Freedom's Chase Whitaker in order to shield the ball from him.
Luke Hunter (#8, Sr.) battles with South Caldwell forward Ricky Flores (#7, Sr.) on Oct. 12.
Stryker Wards races past a Freedom defender on Oct. 13.
Luke Hunter (Sr.) shields a South Caldwell player as he wins possession for Watauga on Oct. 12.
BOONE — The Watauga boys soccer team engaged conference rivals South Caldwell and Freedom on back-to-back nights and walked away victorious both evenings — while scoring 14 goals in the process.
On Wednesday, Oct. 12, the Pioneers (7-8-1, 5-1 conference) headed down the mountain to visit Hudson, North Carolina and take on the South Caldwell Spartans (9-4-2, 3-3) for their fifth conference match of the season.
On a dreary and wet night, Watauga shot out to a quick 2-0 lead over South Caldwell before halftime. The boys in blue tacked on six more in the second half, which is the new season-high for number of goals in a single half for the boys in blue.
Once the Pioneers were up 6-0 mid-way through the second half, the coaches started implementing substitutions across their 11-man lineup knowing they had another game the following night. The Spartans only slotted home two goals past backup goalkeeper Jude Jackson (Fr.) to avoid being shutout by Pioneers, but the emphatic 8-2 win meant that Watauga kept pace with conference-leading Hibriten.
The eight goals for the Pioneers on Wednesday night were scored by five different players. Nathan Bishop (Sr.) had a hat-trick, while Keowen Arguello (Jr.) netted two. Emmit Coffey (Sr.), Riley Cook (Sr.) and Vaughn Ladd each scored one apiece.
The two goals for South Caldwell were scored by Andrew Pruette (Sr.) and Tristan Mearns (Jr.)
Watauga's starting goalkeeper Kyle Painter (Jr.) kept a clean sheet while he was in the game, making four saves in the process. Jackson made three saves of his own after he entered the game. For the Spartans, Jayden Drum (Jr.) had five saves while Christopher Tocci (Jr.) had two.
There was no rest for the blue-clad victors however, as the next night the Freedom Patriots (5-9-2, 0-5-1) came to Jack Groce Stadium to do battle with Watauga.
Despite occupying the bottom spot in the conference standings, Freedom proved to be a tough nut to crack — at first. Although the Pioneers held possession the majority of the time, Watauga found their advances end either by offsides calls or wayward shots repeatedly during the first half. When the whistle sounded for halftime, the score still held at 0-0.
In the locker room however, a key half-time adjustment was made that delivered goals aplenty after the break. Head coach Josh Honeycutt shared the details of the change.
"It appeared to us that they were trying to maybe run an offsides trap defensively, trying to hold a high backline try to catch us offsides. Once I told the guys what was going on and how to beat it, then we were able to get behind and start scoring," Honeycutt said. "We began to play the diagonal balls through their defense, and once you get in behind them, you've got tons of space to go to goal. So we were able to adjust very well to what we saw in the first half and I think it obviously was pretty effective in the second."
Effective is right, as the final tally of six goals in the second half marked the second consecutive night the Pioneers achieved such a feat. All told between Wednesday's and Thursday's games, Watauga scored 14 times — with 12 of those coming in the second halves.
In the 48th minute, Pioneers GK Kyle Painter hoofed a pass over the entire Patriots squad, and Noah Jamison (Sr.) pounced upon it before Freedom's goalie could react. The assist was Painter's first of the season, and likewise was Jamison's first goal this year.
That score seemingly opened the floodgates, as only moments later another goal came from a defense-splitting pass in the 51st minute. Curtis Sevensky (So.) played the ball through to teammate Micah Duvall (Jr.), and Duvall hit the ball over Freedom's GK Cole Johnson for an easy tap-in.
Sevensky was the creator on that goal, but soon after scored himself on two near-identical goals in the span of only two minutes. In both the 56th and 57th minutes Sevensky sprinted past the Patriots down the right-hand flank and found the net on both occasions, assisted by Stryker Ward (Sr.) and Keowen Arguello (Jr.) respectively.
Arguello provided the last two goals himself — no assists required. His first score came in the 66th minute from a set piece play. After a foul by the Patriots roughly 12 yards in front of their penalty box, Arguello stepped up to take the resulting free kick. The junior midfielder connected on a well-struck 30-yard strike that looped up and over Freedom's keeper, and barely glanced off the crossbar as it found the top left corner of the goal.
Honeycutt praised Arguello's goal, stating that the young man had demonstrated an affinity for such moments in training.
"This week we actually did focus on set pieces, because we had three games we wanted some light practices. So we were able to work on free kicks and Kiwi (Keowen Arguello's nickname) was able to hit a couple of really good shots in practice that made us take notice," Honeycutt said. "I knew that if he had the opportunity, it was going to be a great hit. In this situation, we got the foul just about where he wanted it and then he executed perfectly. It was just an absolutely great finish off of a set piece, just gorgeous."
For his second score, Arguello and the Pioneers battled for possession in the Patriots box in the 78th minute. Although the opposition goalkeeper seemed to collect the ball, it slipped out of his grasp and bounced to Arguello on the goal-line for what might be the easiest goal of his career, putting the final scoreline at a dominant 6-0 win for Watauga.
Painter had four saves for the Pioneers, which puts him at 103 stops on the season thus far, while backup keeper Jackson added two saves of his own. For the Patriots, Johnson had nine saves and backup keeper Armando Andres Tomas had two stops as well.
The Pioneers have now put together a four-game unbeaten run, and will look to continue that streak on Monday, Oct. 17 in a home match against Alexander Central. The Cougars defeated Watauga 3-0 in Taylorsville three weeks ago, so the Pioneers will look to exact their revenge in Jack Groce Stadium. Kickoff that evening is scheduled for 6 p.m.
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