CHARGER CUP: WCDS rallies past Parrott Academy

By Ben Coley
Published in Sports on August 14, 2016 1:45 AM

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bcoley@newsargus.com

Before Saturday's matchup against Parrott Academy, Wayne Country Day boys' soccer coach Steve Ellis was well aware of the Patriots' talented goalkeeper Michael Mikhail.

Early in the game, Mikhail blocked shots, dove for balls and even scored a goal off of a free kick. The goal by Mikhail gave the Patriots a 2-0 lead.

But it also lit a fire under the Chargers' offense.

WCDS blitzed Parrott with three goals in six minutes to snatch the lead. The Chargers tightly gripped momentum for the rest of the game, as they concluded the Charger Cup with a 4-2 victory.

"We got a little complacent with ourselves, coming off (Friday's) win," said senior midfielder Noah Adkins. "We were like 'Okay, we can beat these guys because the team we beat (Friday) beat these guys.

"But going two down, especially with Thursday's game -- us losing 3-0 -- it kind of gave us the drive to not want that to happen again."

The Chargers began their burst of offense with a corner kick from junior Luis Lopez, who lofted the ball to a loaded box. Junior Ben Cohen fought for position and headed the ball past the goalkeeper.

A minute later, junior Jack Talton kicked a long pass to freshman Nehemiya Shaw who found open space. The young star gathered the pass and slid the ball into the left corner of the net.

Adkins finished off the rally in the 30th minute.

After a dazzling display of dribbling into the box, the senior captain touched a pass to Shaw who converted his second goal of the match. It was Shaw's fourth goal in two games.

"We tested (Mikhail) from range three or four times early," Ellis said. "We could see he was going to spread himself wide to get the ball. So after getting a little bit closer, and I think it was maybe our third goal, was just a simple tap in. The header from Ben, even though (Mikhail) is a great keeper, nobody was going to get it."

After several minutes of back-and-forth play in the second half, Adkins had an opportunity to score on a penalty kick in the 64th minute. Mikhail, unfazed by the previous three goals, blocked the attempt.

Just four minutes later, Adkins claimed his revenge by dribbling along the right side of the field and launching a ball into the left corner of the net.

WCDS finished 2-1-0 in the Cup behind Cape Fear Academy, which won the Cup with a 3-0 record.

Even though it's early into the season, Adkins said the team has its mind set on returning to the state championship. That objective was seared into the mind of each player as they mounted the comeback, and sealed the victory.

"Looking back Thursday, that's not how we want our season to go," Adkins said. "We want to leave our legacy here at WCDS. That was kind of going through our heads as we came out. 'Look this isn't it what this team is about.' So we really pushed and got a lot of offense going."