The Wilmington High School boys soccer team earned a 1-0 win over the Waynesville Spartans at Alumni Field in a Division II sectional tournament match Tuesday night.
“I can’t thank the kids enough,” said Wilmington head coach Imad El-Macharaffie. “They played their hearts out.”
The win moves WHS into the second round where they will play at Ross 7 p.m Saturday night.
“I think the difference between us and (Waynesville) tonight was the offense. We had way more chances in front of their goal than they did on us,” El-Macharaffie said.
After a scoreless first half, Wilmington quickly got after things in the second 40 minutes. A perfect leading pass from Charly Schumacher to Sam Spirk ended with a goal giving Wilmington a 1-0 lead in the 44th minute.
The Hurricanes played stout defense for the remainder of the half as they stopped many Spartans attempts to send the match into overtime.
Jake Vaughan had a perfect debut in goal for Wilmington as he was able to make many game defining saves in the last minutes. Vaughan replaced Graham Vilvens, the regular WHS goalkeeper who missed the match because of injury.
“It was a great win for us. We beat a team that was 12-3-1. I am proud of the guys and we are going to work very hard this week preparing for Ross,” said El-Macharaffie.
