WJ soccer just keeps winning. After starting the season with a loss and a tie to out-of-county opponents Marriotts Ridge and Bowie in the Sherwood Invitational Tournament on Sept. 4, the team has rounded off seven straight county wins behind a potent offense and a talented defense.
“We are a very attack-minded, possession team,” said coach Mike Williams. “We want to have the ball as long as we can to create scoring chances and score goals.”
The team’s offense attacks from all angles and has been very effective thus far, scoring 18 goals in the team’s seven straight wins. The offense is led by senior striker Michael Tillman (see Athlete of the Month, page 17), who leads the team with seven goals, along with junior striker Noah Sheetz-Ziegel (five goals), and sophomore strikers Juan Ortiz (four goals, four assists) and Mateo Arenas-Rivero (three goals, three assists).
While the team has exhibited offensive prowess, it has been the team’s ever-improving defense that has allowed them to maintain success. The team has talent on defense, but Williams has focused on inspiring his players to be aggressive and relentless in their efforts to win the ball back.
“You should be kind of upset if you don’t have that ball and you really work hard to get it back,” said Williams, “and I think that we’re learning that, and we’ve made tremendous improvement in that regard.”
Aggression is a key component of a good team defense, but senior goalie Liam Collins notes that the team also needs to stay composed.
“If we keep our cool, we can stop any attack,” said Collins.
An increasingly aggressive defense and a relentless, attacking offense have combined to provide an excitingly successful team that is ranked No. 4 in the Metro area in the Washington Post. Despite this success, the team needs to keep from becoming overconfident.
“Williams has done a good job of keeping us humble,” said senior back Jonathan Fix. “He makes sure that we know that our record doesn’t affect how we play; it’s the hard work that we put in.”
Looking forward, members of the WJ community can’t help but think about a possible state championship. With upcoming games against Blair, Magruder and Damascus, the Wildcats stand a good chance of having a 12-0 county record when the brackets are drawn on Oct. 25, and henceforth receiving a high seed in the state tournament. Williams warns, however, that there are areas where the team will need to improve if the team wants a deep run into the playoffs.
“We need to be more consistent. We need to have more of a killer instinct,” said Williams. “And we still need to be more aggressive on defense.”
If the team can be as relentless without the ball as they are with it, and the team shows up to play hard every single game, this team has a good shot at a state championship.
