The Wellington High School soccer program hosted a double-header on Friday, Dec. 14 and swept rival Seminole Ridge High School in both girls and boys soccer. To kick off the night, the Wolverine girls team edged the Hawks 2-1, and then the boys team held on to win 5-1.
The Seminole Ridge girls (4-3) took an early lead against Wellington (9-2-1) when striker Aliana Agosto beat the Wolverine defender and pressed to the goal, where she drove in the first score of the game to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead in the 11th minute.
The Seminole Ridge lead was short lived. Four minutes later, Haley Jenkins took a pass at center of the box and kicked it in for the equalizer. Both sides picked up the intensity, creating chances but with missed shots, or kicks that were denied by the goalkeepers.
Wellington pressured the Hawk defense for the last two minutes of the first half, but the Hawks did a solid job of keeping the Wolverines off the scoreboard for a second goal.
The next score did not come until the second half. With just nine minutes remaining in the game, Wellington’s Halle Kurit snuck a goal in from a corner kick off Jenkins. The ball was getting bounced around in the box. Kurit put herself in the right place at the right time, and she notched a second unanswered goal for the Wolverines to give them the 2-1 victory.
In the second match, the Wolverine boys (3-1-4) scored often to defeat the visiting Hawks (1-6). Five different players scored for Wellington.
Both teams battled for control, but it was Wellington that struck the first goal just before the water break in the 20th minute. Mathew Blandon kicked the ball from 20 yards out and hit the upper left 90 of the frame, sending a scorching shot by an airborne and outreached Hawk goalkeeper to give the Wolverines a 1-0 lead.
Wellington would score four more times through the night, before the Hawks could close the margin. Austin Chase added to the Wellington lead when he beat the Seminole Ridge defense and drove in the score to lift the Wolverines 2-0 to end the first half.
Wolverine goals from Tyler Miller, Pablo Maradiaga-Connor and Aleksei Kitaigorod in the second half put the game out of reach for the Hawks. Wellington dominated in possession and shots on goal through the half. Seminole Ridge’s Xavier Fernandez scored the lone goal for the Hawks with five minutes remaining to close the margin, but Wellington had enough to secure the 5-1 win.
