Marble Falls boys soccer beats Wimberley
CAPTION: Marble Falls sophomore Eli Chocoj needed only one good chance at scoring a goal, and he delivered. Photo by Stennis Shotts
The Marble Falls High School boys soccer team defeated Wimberley 1-0 Feb. 20 in District 26-4A play.
“It was definitely a physical match,” head coach Ryan Craven said. “Wimberley is well coached. They had a good plan. (Head coach Link Scoggins) has them playing hard and very, very schematically.”
The goal came from Eli Chocoj, who was assisted by Drake Taylor with 2 minutes and 48 seconds left in the contest. It came when the Mustangs were in transition and Chocoj shot from 12 yards out from the right side of the net into the left bottom pocket. He sent the ball just out of reach of the goalie, who dived to his right to try to get to it.
The goal was a long time coming with the Mustangs (9-3-5, 5-1-1) hitting the cross bar and each pole in other attempts. One shot hit the cross bar, dropped down to the ground and bounced to hit both poles before it could slip past the goalie for the score.
“We outshot them 26-3,” Craven said. “So we possessed it the whole second half and finally got a goal.”
Meanwhile, the Mustangs defense recorded another shutout, their third in a row and fourth out of the last six matches.
“It says we are passionate about holding teams to goose eggs,” the coach said. “We talked about before the game that we don’t want to get scored on the rest of district. That’s our goal now. Obviously, that’s a lofty goal. But that’s the mentality, and they take a lot of pride in trying to make that happen.”
Craven credited Jose Campos, Ismayl Ismaylov and Aaron Luna for their all-around play.
“Jose won a ton of balls, Ismayl did a great job and Luna did a great job in the middle,” he said. “Those three just worked and understood how to position themselves on the field. So they did a great job. I thought Toni Flores did a great job of getting back and just helping us defensively, and he did a great job offensively as well.”
The victory keeps the Mustangs in first place with Fredericksburg (5-5-1, 5-2) in second, San Antonio Davenport (8-3-3, 4-1-2) third and Wimberley (5-9-2, 4-3) fourth.
“If we don’t stay on top of our game going forward, they will catch us,” Craven said of the tight race.
The Mustangs will travel to play at New Braunfels Long Creek (7-7, 1-5) with the junior varsity taking the field at 5 p.m. and the varsity to follow at 7 p.m.
CAPTION: Marble Falls senior Drake Taylor does whatever it takes to ensure the Mustangs have scoring opportunities. Photo by Stennis Shotts
