An intense week of sports for NC athletics included the kickoff scrimmage for the boys varsity soccer team, where they faced off against the Kell Longhorns. The match-up took place Friday, February 6, at the Emory Swell Stadium after the girls’ varsity soccer game. Immediately after arriving at the field, the energy surged from each player, awaiting the highly anticipated rivalry scrimmage, which ended with Kell emerging victorious, with a score of 3-2.

Beginning the match, NC set up in a 4-4-2 formation against the Longhorns’ 4-4-3. This formation allows for a strong defensive setup paired with a typically quick transitioning offense. In the first minute of the first half, NC junior goalie Luca Diaz-Poma (0) sent a quick pass out to centerback, junior Will King (23). On a turn, King slipped on the turf, allowing Kell striker, senior Ricardo Arias (11) to score. Following Kell’s goal, senior forward Mauricio Dias (11) applied intense pressure to the opposing goalie, sophomore Chris Martinez (10), resulting in a foul and a yellow card. The referee constantly forced calls for both sides, providing the Warriors with a free kick taken by junior midfielder Nyjah Ngamau (17) in the fourth minute, resulting in a corner kick for NC. While Kell advanced upfield, senior midfielder Adrian Romero (6) aimed to slow them down and gain back possession through a slide tackle; however, the referee called a foul on the play, and Romero received a red card. Whereas the yellow card so early on in the match hardly affected the team as a whole, a red card before the first ten minutes created a slight imbalance on the pitch, with NC continuing the game with only ten players.

“I felt great going into the game as we had some great training sessions, and I really thought we were ready. Coming into the game, we had amazing energy, but I feel we could have used it better than we did with the multiple altercations on the field. If we could rematch Kell, I think we could play a lot smarter, make better decisions on the ball and as a team not get involved in any altercations,” junior full back Josh Nkaambi (2) said.

The second half set off intensely, with Kell on the ball for the kick-off. Both teams applied quick pressure when not on the ball, especially NC, waiting to score their first goal of the match and season. In the 55th minute, NC senior forward Tristan West (13) received a cross from the left side of the field and scored with a beautiful finish. West instantly ran to meet his teammates in celebration as he scored the first goal of the season. After the NC goal, Kell began to play defensively with NC continuously rushing their back line, until the Longhorns sent out a long ball, settling them on offense. While on offense in the 63rd minute, junior midfielder Brayan Silva (10) split the Kell defense with an impressive through ball to junior forward Cullen Steinle (8). Steinle impressively finished the ball in the bottom right corner, placing NC in the lead with a score of 2-1. Following Steinle’s goal, Kell right back, sophomore Kevin Graham (5), provided Arias with a ball which landed behind the NC center backs. Arias slotted the ball over the NC goalie, sophomore Michael Grossman (1), once again creating a tie game. With the time slowly running out, both teams began to scramble for a goal, switching constantly between offense and defense. Until, in the 77th minute, junior centerback, Guillerme Costa (14), played a ball over NC’s backline, allowing Arias to, once again, run onto the ball and score his third goal of the night, securing himself a hat trick.

“The energy on the field was really high and positive until the end, when it got really physical, but we believed a lot in ourselves. I feel we just need to be smarter with our decisions, cut out all the sloppy mistakes and lapses in judgment that we struggle with. As for my performance, I honestly don’t feel like I played great or anything, obviously I played well and scored, but I lost the ball a few too many times, wasn’t as direct and selfish as I should’ve been at times,” Steinle said.

By the final whistle, Kell beat NC with a score of 3-2 after an aggressive 90 minutes of play. As the match-up counts only as a scrimmage, the outcome does not impact either team’s records; however, it provides substantial experience for both teams. Despite the loss, NC’s unwavering performance and resilience set a strong base as the team moves into its regular- season games.