WCHS soccer tames Tigers-Garibaldi scores 3 goals in team’s first win of year

By Rob Nunley

Pioneer senior Travis Young heads back toward the DeKalb County end of the pitch during Friday’s matchup at the WCHS soccer field. The Pioneers shut out the Tigers, 4-0.

While Mother Nature rained on their field, the Pioneer soccer team poured on the offense Friday night, scoring their first victory of the season by downing DeKalb County 4-0.

Tony Garibaldi had a hat trick, scoring two first-half goals and another in the opening moments of the second half, giving coach Matt Jackson’s squad the cushion it needed to substitute liberally throughout the remainder of the contest.

‘DeKalb hasn’t had a team for very many seasons, but they’ve come a long way and are doing really well,’ Jackson said. ‘It’s nice to be able to play someone close by, and since we were able to get an early lead, it gave us the chance to work on some things we needed to improve on and build some confidence.’

With action staying around the Tigers’ goal for much of Friday’s contest, the Pioneers fired plenty of shots on goal, and finally broke into the scoring column in the game’s ninth minute, when Mauro Ponce scored off a centering pass from Garibaldi.

Two minutes later, Garibaldi got in on the act, dribbling in from midfield after the Pioneers took away a DeKalb County throw-in.

As the half drew to a close, Garibaldi struck again, this time working his way in from the left side, faking out his closest defender and firing a point-blank shot past the Tigers’ keeper.

Up 3-0 at intermission, the Pioneers began the second half with their normal starting lineup, and Garibaldi scored his third goal ‘ and the final point of the game ‘ before WCHS inserted its reserves.

‘We had a lead, but I brought the starters back in for about five minutes or so, to work mainly on playing with a sense of urgency and keeping their competitive levels up,’ Jackson explained. ‘We ended up with pretty much our entire JV team on the field, and they were able to put together a couple of scoring opportunities, too, which was good to see. Then late in the game we brought the seniors back out, and let them experiment with playing different positions than they’re used to, just to let them have some fun out there and enjoy the win.’

The win came on the heels of a narrow 2-1 loss at Cookeville earlier in the week, and improved the Pioneers’ overall record to 1-1-2. WCHS returns to action Tuesday, traveling to Lebanon for a District 7-AAA contest.