Striker Angelo D’Errico and midfielder Joshua Zawlocki scored a goal in each half to power the Catawba Ridge Copperheads boys’ soccer team to a comprehensive 2-0 non-region win over May River Friday night at The Pit.
With the win, the Copperheads, which improves to 6-2-1 overall, built plenty of defensive chemistry in the team’s first home game of the season, according to head coach Philip McCarter.
McCarter said the team noticed that the visiting Sharks were sending multiple midfielders forward at once to overwhelm Catawba Ridge’s backline. Up 1-0 at halftime, McCarter made adjustments to bolster his central defenders, a move that allowed for a much more “clean” second-half performance.
“I thought they were a really good opponent,” McCarter said. “This was a positive win because we made adjustments and made sure our system of play fit what we wanted to do. We built our chemistry, worked on our systems, and I thought we played cleaner in the second half.”
The teams agreed to move up their kickoff time by an hour to fit the game in before a forecast storm swept into the area.
Both Catawba Ridge goals came courtesy of set pieces, something the Copperheads had worked on in the preseason, according to McCarter.
D’Errico found himself in the right place at the right time off a corner on the near side, finishing with a header at the far post to give the Copperheads a 1-0 lead after 34 minutes.
Zawlocki nearly opened the scoring after just four minutes when he unleashed a bullet that rang the May River crossbar, but somehow didn’t cross the line.
May River’s Jacob Madeiros found himself in open space for a cross from the far side, but his cushioned header in the 10th minute skipped just wide of the Catawba Ridge goalmouth.
Zawlocki finally earned his goal just minutes after the halftime break. A free kick by Jeremy White found its way to Zawlocki with 10 yards out. Zawlocki shrugged off his defender and hit a hard, right-footed shot past goalkeeper Sil Broersen.
May River’s Dixon Annikey had a chance to pull back a consolation goal in the 73rd minute after finding space on the far side to dribble near the top of the Catawba Ridge box, but a Copperhead defender was able to execute a strong slide tackle that ended the attack.
Catawba Ridge fell in last year’s 4A Upper State title game to eventual state champions Eastside after finishing the regular season 20-3 and going undefeated in Region III.
May River fell in the second round of the 4A state playoffs and finished the year with a 14-6 record, including a No. 2 seed in Region VII.
“All of the non-region games, there’s the opportunity to build chemistry,” McCarter said. “Now we analyze the film, see what we did and determine if we need to make any changes. What we focus on is to not let the opponent out-physical us. We should get better with that.”
Catawba Ridge next travels to Kershaw to play Andrew Jackson High School Tuesday, March 7. May River next plays Fort Mill in a non-region game 11 a.m. Saturday, March 4.
