Yay for Soccer!

Keenan and Tyler had a fantastic game last night for their school!!!!

Keenan got a hat-trick and Tyler stopped dozens of goal attempts by West.

Here's the article from the newspaper (the Statesville Record and Landmark):

OLIN - West Iredell made a run late, but Keenan Watson had already given North Iredell plenty of wiggle room.

Watson scored three goals in the first 55 minutes Monday to power North Iredell to a critical 3-2 victory over West Iredell.

"I think I was seeing the field really well," Watson said. "I was trying to get other people going."

Watson's third goal came when he stepped in front of a West Iredell free kick attempt and had a clear lane to the goal.

The Warriors (7-2-2 overall, 2-1 North Piedmont Conference) made a game of it late, though.

Craig Vang scored on a penalty kick in the 66th minute to make it 3-1.

Less than five minutes later, Max McCoy found the back of the net to put West just one goal down.

"Our coaches told us to pick our heads back up," Watson said. "They said we thought we had it won when we went up 3-0, but we still had to finish it out."

They did, and the Raiders (5-3, 2-0) must now be considered a serious contender for the NPC championship.

North, West and Statesville are widely expected to compete for the conference crown. In the first match between any of those three teams this season, the Raiders have a leg up.

"I do think we can win the conference," Watson said.

Tang Moua made 10 saves for the Warriors, who entered the game on a three-game winning streak.

"We kept competing hard and pushing it late, but I thought North was completely the better team," West coach David Heintz said. "I thought they wanted it more than us. They set the tone early, and we had to try and catch up."


(photo from pre-season tournament at West)