The CSLA Eagles faced the Sweetwater Wildcats in the District 3-A championship on Friday night to find out who would take the one seed in regionals. CSLA has held the top spot up to this point and looked to keep it that way. Sweetwater, playing on their opponent’s home field, were looking to take it from the Eagles. Unfortunately, this would not be the case for the Wildcats, as they would go on to lose 2-0.
CSLA held the upper hand as the favorites and hosting home field advantage. This didn’t stop Sweetwater from putting up a fight. They were strong defensively led by All-District Defensive Player of the Year, Campbell Hicks. They played fast using their midfield to counter their opponents as soon as they made a mistake.
This wouldn’t be enough for the Wildcats. CSLA passed extremely well and moved the ball smoothly. They used this to force Sweetwater to tire themselves out chasing the ball constantly. This unrelenting attack of the Eagles was finally rewarded with two goals. The first came early with a goal from Alejandro Bougrat. Bougrat took a freekick awarded to CSLA in midfield. He struck it quickly and with only one purpose, to score. The ball floated above the keeper and shocked everyone watching.
After this they scored a second one quickly from a beautiful build up play. Omar El-Etr received the ball and found Conner Tate outside the box. Tate turned inside and curved the ball top corner to give CSLA a winning brace in the final. CSLA had gotten the ball into this position many times before. This time it was executed perfectly to keep them on top.
All of this took place in the first half. Once the second half kicked off, there was not much to show from either side. Each team was still fighting for the win, yet offensively unable to produce any more goals. the CSLA Eagle would go on to win 2-0 and bring home the district championship trophy.
Coach Wes Castle of the CSLA Eagles spoke about the win after the game and how it impacted his team, “It means a lot. I was just telling the guys, going into this year with primarily freshman and sophomores, my goal was to hopefully make it to the championship game. This was our goal. Anything above that exceeds my expectations. Everybody else is graduating senior and we are not. So, we are in good shape for a few years for sure. I watched Chatt Prep and its not going to be an easy game. It will be one of our toughest games. So, my thought process is trying to possess. We had about three injuries today. If we could heal them up and just take care of the ball and go from there.”
CSLA will go on to play against Chatt Prep next Monday at 7 p.m. there at the Eagles' home field again.
Game Summary
Sweetwater 0 0 -- 0
CSLA 2 0 -- 2
Goal scorers:
CSLA- Alejandro Bougrat, Conner Tate.
Assists:
CSLA- Omar El-Etr.
(Contact Alex McElyea at alexmcelyea26@gmail.com)