Southlake wins 5A state title beating RR McNeil 2-0
Published 4/17/2011 12:07:40 AM by star-telegram from william wilkerson
Southlake Carroll midfielder Hunter Horvath struggled to find words to describe his emotions Saturday evening at Birkelbach Field. Words weren’t needed though. His eyes welling with tears told the whole story.
Karl de Zoeten headed in a corner kick from Alec Petit at the 21:56 mark of the second half to break a scoreless tie, and Mac McGuire added a goal at the 3:30 mark to give the Dragons a 2-0 victory over Round Rock McNeil in the Class 5A state championship.
“I’m just so excited, nothing else,” Horvath said. “It’s unbelievable.”
It was Carroll’s first state championship since it won the 4A title in 2001 with a shootout victory over Brenham, and its first as a 5A program. The Dragons also reached the state tournament in 2000 and 2002, losing in the semifinals both times.
“It’s hard to put into words. It’s just pure happiness,” McGuire said. “This feeling doesn’t come from anything else. State championship, senior year, last game and I scored. It’s literally the perfect ending. Nothing can go wrong right now.”
The victory also capped an unbeaten season for Carroll, which finished its dream run with a 28-0-3 mark.
“We just started playing and the wins start adding up,” Dragons coach Greg Oglesby said. “You don’t notice it.”
It’s noticeable now and began to become a realistic possibility when Petit’s corner kick went untouched and directly to Karl de Zoeten, who collected his third header of the season.
“When I saw it go in the net it was the happiest I’ve ever been,” de Zoeten said. “At the beginning of the season I thought we’d make it three rounds in the playoffs because we lost so many good players from last year. But we just progressed through the season. We had a really good team effort. Our defense was great all year.”
Dragons goalie Oshick Shams was the catalyst of Carroll’s defense, which closed the season with four shutouts. He had just returned to the front of the net for only a few minutes after sprinting 90 yards to join in the goal when he saved the game from being tied.
McNeil forward Matt Leach headed back a pass from Michael Nelson that appeared to have found its way into the net. But Shams leaped to snatch the ball at the goal line. Leach had another close call early in the second when he headed a shot off the middle of the crossbar.
“This is one of the greatest moments of my life,” said Shams, who was named the game’s Most Valuable Player. “We have been preparing so hard for this. I am just happy we could come out here as a team and get it done.”
Label: Southlake soccer state championship, Karl de Zoeten, Mac McGuire
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