On Friday, April 9, 2024, Westwood played Webb for the Conference championship after beating Cascade in the semi-finals 4-0. Webb’s only loss on the season was to Westwood earlier in the season.
At halftime of the championship, the score was 0-0, but Westwood had shot the ball 15 times and shot 9 times on frame.
Westwood had two really good opportunities to score, but the keeper stopped one, and the other went left of the goal by just a bit. In the 2nd half Westwood shot the ball 14 times with 8 on frame. Westwood ended up scoring one goal on a shot by Erick Moncayo.
Westwood had another great opportunity when John Martinez shot one that was headed into the right corner of the goal but the keeper for Webb made an amazing diving stop. While the score was obviously close, the game really wasn’t. Coach Kevin Smith stated that he literally went back and timed how long the ball was on Westwood’s side of the field and in the first half, it was on their side of the field 2 minutes and 1 second. In the second half, it was 2 minutes and 45 seconds.
The only shot Webb really got off was just below midfield, and Westwood’s goalkeeper was able to wait for it to roll to him. This championship was Westwood’s fifth in a row and fifth year undefeated in conference play.
The Rockets gave a lot of credit to Webb for a great effort in the match.
Coach Smith stated that this was Westwood’s hardest schedule in school history, as they played teams from the Murfreesboro and Smyrna areas. Westwood had two preseason matches against Rocky Fork out of Smyrna and Rockvale out of Murfreesboro, both of which ended in a 1-1 tie. Both Rocky Fork and Rockvale have most of their players playing competitive soccer with local clubs in their area in the offseason of middle school soccer.
Rocky Fork has approximately 800 kids in their school, and Rockvale has about 1,400 students.
Westwood then opened their season with Oakland Middle School out of Murfreesboro and beat them 4-0. Then Westwood beat Cascade 7-0, Harris Middle School 3-0, Liberty 9-0, Community 7-1, Webb 4-2, Warren County 0-0, Thurman Francis 2-1, and SAS 4-0 in the regular season. Westwood ended their season with 10-0-1. They scored 45 goals and gave up 4 goals. While Westwood typically scores a lot more in past seasons, they had never played teams of this caliber, so the coaching staff of Westwood they are very proud of their team and stated they found it to be a very successful season.
Westwood coaching staff, Coach Kevin Smith and Coach Pete DeWolfe, stated they are super proud of this group as they often were the smaller team in roster size, physical size, and probably playing experience with the Murfreesboro teams. The team never complained or made excuses; they just did as they were asked and played to their best ability. As far as the future of Westwood boys’ soccer is concerned, the team has some up-and-coming players. The coaching staff expects another successful season next year. The coaches can name at least 9 players right now who, without a doubt, will be ready for next season. They also look forward to seeing what new players will show up and contribute to the future of Westwood Soccer. Coach Smith and Coach Pete DeWolfe said they want to thank the players for their hard work, the parents for getting them to and from practice as well as games and looking forward to adding Coach Zach to the team next year after going through the steps.
