2 hours Ago By Skyler Jackson
WORTHINGTON — The Worthington High School boys soccer team felt like it needed a win over Willmar in Friday’s regular-season finale at Trojan Field. The main reason the Trojans felt that way was for the young team to build confidence before the upcoming section playoffs. ADVERTISEMENT But a win would not come easy for coach Juan Flores and the Trojans.
They were going up against Willmar, the top team from Section 8AA and one of the top teams in all of Class AA. It got even more difficult for WHS during the match as the Cardinals took a 1-0 lead near the midway point of the second half. But the Trojans showed a lot of grit for the last 30 minutes as they scored two unanswered goals to grab a confidence-boosting 2-1 win.
“You can look at our roster, you know, our team is very young, Flores said. “A lot of them don't have the experience but in games like these with this magnitude, it's good for them to get this kind of experience so they know what it's like to play in games like these.” The two schools traded possession of the ball back and forth throughout the half and both had some scoring opportunities.
Worthington had a few decent looks to score, only to not capitalize. The biggest scoring chance of the half perhaps came from the Cardinals with a corner kick try at around the 28th minute. The kick made its way through, but the header attempt was saved by freshman goalkeeper Adrian Flores.
Flores would make multiple key saves in the match and the WHS defense came through as well. From there, the rest of the half continued to be a stalemate as it went into halftime scoreless. Flores said the first half went similar to his team’s last match Saturday against Mankato East that ended in a 0-0 draw.
ADVERTISEMENT “It was very similar to Saturday,” Flores said. “We were playing the long ball, and the other team obviously watches film, and they were anticipating that. Ithink the second half, we connected.
We connected more passes in the second half, and we were able to do that and generate more chances which I'm glad we were able to put some in the back of the net tonight.” The second half saw a more aggressive Trojans squad eventually take control, but it didn’t start that way. Willmar would grab the first goal of the match nearly 12 minutes into the half when the team was awarded a free kick.
Flores made the initial save on the kick, but a header from Wilman Enamorado quickly made its way through to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead. The Trojans wasted no time in responding though as they found the back of the net just two minutes later deep inside the Willmar box. That quickly leveled the match at 1-1.
WHS would get on the board not much longer after that when a pass found its way past a wall of Willmar defenders ahead to Danny Banegas. Banegas raced toward the goal before his shot just inside the box found its way past the diving attempt of Cardinal keeper Nehermiah Van Horne to provide what proved to be the game-winning goal with 19:28 remaining. The Trojans remained stout on defense to keep Willmar out of the back of the net again as they sealed the victory.
“The first half, we weren't super happy with it, but we came out and we changed some things in the second half, and we were able to get a couple goals,” Flores said. “They scored first, the guys were kind of down but we just never stopped fighting. If we want to make it far in sections, we have to bring that “don't give up" attitude, so that's what we did tonight.
” ADVERTISEMENT The win gives Worthington a final regular-season record of 10-3-3. It’s been a bit of an up and down season for the Trojans, starting 7-0-2 and being ranked as high as fifth in the AA rankings before facing the toughest stretch of their schedule. It started with a Sep.
16 loss to New Ulm and then came a devastating loss to Marshall two days later. After that was a shutout loss to top-ranked Academy of Holy Angels. WHS bounced back with wins over Wings United and Fairmont before the scoreless draw with Mankato East last Saturday.
Injuries have also plagued the Trojans a bit this season. They went a majority of the season without senior defender Maqui Sandoval, who made his return Saturday. Tuesday saw another Trojan go down as sophomore defender Diego Lopez was carried off the field late in the second half with what Flores said is a sprained ankle.
But through it all, the Trojans kept fighting and now the Section 2AA await next week. WHS will likely be slotted as a No. 3 or 4 seed, which would give the team a home first-round playoff match as the team looks to make its fourth-straight state tournament appearance.
“We needed a win tonight, and we got a win tonight,” Flores said. “And I think we've been kind of in a slump for a while and it's good to get a win, especially at home with sections coming up. And I think the team is heading the right direction, and I think we'll be ready for sections.
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