This week in sports, the Hough High Varsity soccer team faced off against Mooresville High in an electric match on our newly renovated home turf on Tuesday night at 7 PM. Despite the relatively small number of fans in the supporters’ section, the Hough crowd proved to be a sufficient fanbase for the team to depend on. After the announcement of the starting lineups and the national anthem, the first half began. Hough began strong with multiple attacks up the right wing. However, Mooresville recovered with a swift counterattack just seven minutes into the game. A quick ball was swept across the Husky keeper, Noah Parker, to provide their right-winger with an easy tap-in. After Mooresville’s early goal, the Huskies needed response. Their ability to get into the attack was aided by a spirited defense, led by Santi Giraldo. In the 27th minute, the Huskies capitalized on one of their four first-half shots on target. Capy Suarez collected a parry from the Blue Devils goalkeeper and tapped the ball into the back of the net from about six yards away. He and his team celebrated in the corner with a roar from the home crowd, and the excitement only grew from there. Jonah Kakitsis nearly put a second goal in for Hough just shortly after their first. Late in the second half, Mooresville swung in a free kick from outside the box after the Huskies conceded their sixth first-half foul. It was flicked in by an attacker, making the score 2-1 Mooresville after 30 minutes. With just minutes to go in the half, Capy Suarez and Lukas Patrignani made an admirable attempt to level the score. The shot just barely missed, concluding the first-half action.

After a quick break for halftime, the athletes returned to the pitch. Mooresville started out strong, and a Blue Devil attacking midfielder struck a ball from 25 yards out into the top right corner to give them a two-goal advantage, silencing Hough fans temporarily. The tempo of the game slowed until ten minutes later when a Blue Devil defender committed a bad foul inside the box, giving the Huskies a chance to capitalize on a penalty. Jonah Kakitsis stepped up and hit a hard shot to the bottom right corner. Despite the well-placed penalty shot, the Blue Devils’ keeper dove adeptly into the ball and made a great save, maintaining their 3-1 lead. The Huskies continued to push hard to come back from the two-goal deficit late in the second half. In the 76th minute, Zander Poulous nearly put one away in a great attempt to narrow the Mooresville lead. With just one minute to go in the game, Iggy Guzman successfully finished a close-range shot to tighten the margin between the two teams. With no time to celebrate their last-minute goal, the Huskies ran the ball to midfield as quickly as possible. In the final 60 seconds, the Hough players pushed to find an opportunity to score once more, but Mooresville's defense proved to be strong enough to finish the game with a win. Despite the 3-2 loss, the Huskies’ attempt at a comeback was commendable. Their second-half energy gives our school high hopes for the remainder of this soccer season.