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The NS boys soccer team continues to fight hard taking home the win in two region games this past week against Grand and Richfield; they hope to see more success as they finish off the season.
The team started off the region competition with a tie against Emery and three consecutive wins against Grand, Richfield and South Sevier.
In a match against Manti, NS’s rival, the team lost their first region game. The score was close with NS in the lead at the beginning of the second half, but Manti came back and won 5-2.
“We have moments where we don’t play as a team and that’s why we lost to Manti,” Coach Zac Ostraff said.
Playing as a team unit has been one of the challenges for the Hawks this year, but through practice, they’ve improved a lot. Games, when the boys are able to get in the right mode and work together, are the games that turn out the best.
“When we do work as a team, when we’re all on that same page, we do really good things and we can beat anybody,” Ostraff said.
In another intense game against Emery, NS lost again, keeping the score tied 0-0 until the last five minutes of the game where Emery scored a goal. Despite some losses, Coach Ostraff remains hopeful for the rest of the season.
“We’ve got a lot of fight in us, and I like that,” Ostraff said. “I think we’re doing some very good things and very rarely do we give up.”
Sophomore Luis Rodriguez, striker for the Hawks, also remains hopeful and sees their loss as a way to improve.
“We did get those two losses, but I think we all learned something,” said Rodriguez. “We’re going to learn from our mistakes and hopefully get that win.”
The team currently stands third in region, but the team and coaches are confident in their chances of finishing first or second.
“We just have to take it one game at a time,” Ostraff said. “And then I’d really like to make it through at least the first round of state.”
In a friendly game against Salem Hills, the team suffered yet another loss. At the end of the first half, NS was down 0-6. Coach Ostraff told the team to stop worrying about the scoreboard and just play their game. The boys took this to heart and returned to the field where they scored three goals in the second half. The final score was 7-3 for Salem Hills, but the NS team walked away with smiles and lessons learned.
“The only way we’re going to get better is if we have more games like that,” senior Christian Sanchez said. “We were all having fun and we all learned a lot about each other.”
With room to improve, the NS boys soccer team aims to continue the last few games of the region competition as well as they are able.
“If we keep pushing for the positivity and keep pushing away the negativity, then we’ll grow even stronger as a team,” Sanchez said.
