The Hawks men’s soccer faced off against the Archbishop Murphy Wildcats in a 2A District match on Saturday, May 13, but were defeated with a score of 2-1.
Junior forward Bobby Stoyanov secured a goal for the Hawks.
As the score crept up to 2-1, the Wildcats played aggressively to keep their lead. The Hawks fought back with strong defense from junior midfielder Gavin Scott as he frequently tried to take the ball back from the Wildcats.
During the second half, the game continued to raise tension. With multiple referee calls, Terrace had many opportunities for free kicks, most of which were carried out by Stoyanov.
Though the Hawks had a few near-goals, they couldn’t turn the game around.
Senior defender Sam Polevoy said it was a tough game as he felt the referees made calls against Terrace.
“Although we might have not agreed with them, they called [a penalty], there’s nothing we can do. But it really changed the momentum of the game,” Polevoy said.
After said penalty kick, Polevoy said the Hawks struggled to keep up their defenses against the Wildcats and also had a misclearance. Once the Wildcats broke through the outside midfielder, they scored their second goal, securing their lead against the Hawks for the rest of the game.
Despite losing their stronghold on the game, Polevoy felt proud that Stoyanov scored for Terrace in this game because he felt the Wildcats’ defenses were solid.
“Highlight of the game was for sure, when it comes to Terrace highlights, Bobby’s goal,” Polevoy said. “Bobby’s been a topnotch goal scorer for the whole season.”
The match brought the Hawks’ overall record to 13-6-0. Polevoy is staying positive as the Hawks will compete in the 2A State tournament.
“At least we’re still in state. Just keep playing for the trophy at that point,” he said. “[We’re] going into one-round elimination so we gotta bounce back.”
Until then, Polevoy hopes the team focuses on mentally rebuilding, going back to practice and gaining their confidence back.
“We’ve done a good job overall with just being able to bounce back after some of our losses,” Polevoy said. “[We] really just gotta spend the next couple of days recovering mentally and physically.”
The Hawks will have their 2017 WIAA 2A State tournament against the Tyee Totems this week. The exact date and time are yet to be determined.
