Garinger High soccer gets big win on the road at Weddington on Wednesday

Garinger High School boys’ soccer team got a big win on the road Wednesday against traditional 4A power Weddington, 4-2.

In a game that saw a young Garinger backline tested, the Wildcats held strong to secure their fourth win of the season.

Garinger got to an early lead, scoring twice in the first 11 minutes. In the second half, Garinger sophomore Jairo Zavalla added to the lead, putting the Wildcats up 3-0.

But after that, Weddington got going.

The Warriors made multiple deep pushes into the Garinger box, putting several good shots on goal. Garinger held up under the pressure for the most part, but the Weddington attack finally broke through at 16:26 mark, as junior midfielder Martin Strasburg put the Warriors on the board. The Warriors, down 3-1, had several more opportunities to cut into Garinger’s lead soon after but couldn’t capitalize.

Garinger senior captain Diego Silva scored with just under 10 minutes left to give the Wildcats another three-goal lead before Weddington got a final score with less than two minutes to play.

“We had phases,” Garinger head coach David Garrett said. “We don’t have a deep bench, so when the guys got tired we had defensive lapses.”

Inexperience also came into play on the Wildcats defense, Garrett said, as the team has three sophomores starting on the back line.

“They’re learning as they go you know,” Garrett said. “They just need the experience in big games like this and so you’re going to see inconsistency at times and that’s what we saw tonight.”

Although the defense might be lacking in experience, the Wildcats aren’t lacking in leadership.

Silva, the Garinger senior captain, was easy to hear on the pitch, as the veteran leader shouted out instructions to his teammates throughout the game.

His team is now 4-1-1 and has outscored opponents 24-6.

“My main goal is to be there for people and uplift them,” Silva said. “We set a goal to win out, and obviously we haven’t done that, but we still want to make the playoffs and just make the school proud.”

What’s next

Garinger hosts Lake Norman at 7 p.m. Thursday. Weddington hosts Hopewell next 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Scoring summary

Garinger 2 2 — 4

Weddington 0 2 — 2

G- Jace Garrett 34:17 First Half

G- Prince Marvens 29:04 First Half

G- Jairo Savalla 31:41 Second Half

W- Martin Starsburg 16:26 Second Half

G- Diego Silva 9:47 Second Half

W- Zachery Yoder 1:53 Second Half