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CHARLOTTE LATIN BOYS CLAIM STATE SOCCER TITLE
The Charlotte Latin Hawks continued their tradition of playing championship soccer this season. Head Coach Lee Horton led the boy’s soccer team to their seventh state title under his leadership. The road to the state title was filled with challenges from the top public and private teams in the state. In the end, an 18-3-2 season was capped off with a win over Providence Day in an all-Charlotte area state final.
Coach Horton sat back to reflect on this special season.
“We thought from the beginning it was our year to win a state championship, but we also knew it wouldn't be easy. We had a great Team Camp at Wake Forest University where our team was coached by head coach Jay Vidovich. Based on the previous year on how teams had done and what they had lost I told our guys I expected us, Providence Day, Wesleyan Academy, and one other surprise team to make the final four.”
The Hawks got off to an amazing start going to Georgia and winning the Elliott Rivers Memorial Tournament pitting top NC teams versus top Georgia teams. Wesleyan Academy and Providence Day were both in that tournament. The Hawks then lost 1-0 to Myers Park in a game that could have gone either way. A 2-0 win over another local power, South Meck really elevated the team’s confidence.
The team then won the Raleigh Ravenscroft Invitational and followed that championship with a win over Wesleyan in a great up and down the field game that was won on a sudden death overtime goal by leading scorer and Players Award winner Will McGinnis.
“This was a defining moment that said our goal was possible. We beat arch rival Country day in the finals knowing we had to play them 3 days later. We played well and won our conference games with Charlotte Country Day, Charlotte Christian, and the rematch with Cannon (5-2). For different reasons Providence Day had a bunch of loses early in the season (injuries, missing players, but mostly a very tough schedule. Bill Finneyfrock is an excellent coach who reorganized and regrouped his team for a run at our conference championship to get into states (an automatic berth). They played us very defensively and succeeded in beating us 0-1 and tying us 0-0 (coupled with our earlier loss to Cannon) in games where we heavily out shot them. They won the conference which caused us to drop to a number 3 seed for the state playoffs although many thought by our overall results of beating teams soundly we still could have been the number 1 seed.”
The Hawks then marched through the conference and state tournaments. The student body came out in full force to support the team in their championship win over Providence Day at nearby Charlotte Country Day.
The team received great leadership from their four captains; Seniors Andy Metzger (center back), and David Golder (keeper), and Juniors Will McGuiness (forward) and Will O'Brien (center midfield).
The Hawks had tremendous depth this season, allowing Coach Horton to substitute as many as six players at a time in the middle of crucial games. That depth came in very handy when captain Will O’Brien strained his MCL in the season opener. When Will returned midseason, Alex Wilson, the leading assist man at the time, broke his collar bone. This allowed freshman Brandon Jordi, a member of the U15 National Pool to step up and score 16 goals, taking the attention off of Will McGinnes.
The team proved to be very successful scoring on corner kicks with great services by David Limentani and Will McGinnis. The Hawks also scored a number of goals off of long throws by Connor Keeley and Grant Carney.
Will McGinnis led the team in scoring with 22 goals and 7 assists. Brandon Jordi scored an impressive 39 points as a freshman with 16 goals and 7 assists. Conor Keeley was the leading assist man with ten, followed closely by Alex Wilson and Davie Limentani with nine each. For the season, Latin scored 76 goals and only allowed 16, with 11 total shutouts.
David Golder was awarded the team Most Valuable Player Award, Will McGinnis, The Players Award and Andy Metzger the Coaches’ Award.
All in all the 2008 season was simply a success for the Charlotte Latin Boys Soccer Team. With a commitment to leading his teams in a first class manner, Coach Horton has now placed another state title in the very impressive trophy case at Charlotte Latin. His players show wisdom beyond their years to follow his coaching and reach for the stars. The lessons they learned on and off the field of play will be used for the rest of their lives.
The South Charlotte Sports Report salutes Coach Horton and The entire Charlotte Latin Soccer program for a job well done!
2008
VARSITY SOCCER
CHARLOTTE LATIN SCHOOL
NAME # GRADE POSITION
David Golder* 0 12 Keeper
Spencer Hurteau 1 11 Keeper
Harper Williams 3 10 Defender
Alex Wilson 5 11 Forward
Kendall Powell 6 12 Midfield
Baynes Welch 7 10 Defender
Brandon Jordi 8 9 Forward
Juan Perdomo 9 12 Midfield
Sbonelo Dube 10 11 Forward
Austin Medall 11 12 Forward
Conor Keeley 12 10 Forward
Michael Grace 13 10 Midfield
Will Evans 14 11 Forward
Cole Wilkison 15 12 Defender
Will O’Brien* 16 11 Midfield
Will McGinnis* 17 11 Forward
Andy Metzger* 18 12 Defender
David Limentani 19 11 Defender
Jonathan Grad 20 10 Midfield
Jay Stafford 21 12 Defender
Grant Carney 22 10 Defender
Jay O’Brien 23 12 Forward
Head Coach Lee Horton
Assistant Coaches Mark Steffens, Mitch Sanford
Athletic Director Jimmy Broadway
Headmaster Arch McIntosh
Trainers Tim Kelly, Cheri Pratt, Marianna Spero
Managers Kristin Horton, Sarah Wells
*Captains
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