RALEIGH Myers Park's nationally ranked soccer team finished a perfect season with a 4-3 win against nationally ranked Wilmington New Hanover in the N.C. 4A championship game Monday night at N.C. State.
It is Myers Park's first state soccer championship. The Mustangs lost in the 2003 and 1988 state championship games.
Myers Park (25-0) won the highest scoring 4A final in seven years – since Durham Jordan beat Green Hope 4-3. Myers Park became the first 4A team to finish the season unbeaten and untied since Raleigh Sanderson did it in 1985.
And Myers Park became the first Mecklenburg County team to win the 4A title since Providence in 2000. In fact, no county team other than Providence had won in 4A since South Meck in 1971.
But it wasn't easy.
The Mustangs, ranked No. 4 in ESPN's national poll, fell behind No. 48 New Hanover early. The Wildcats (23-3-1) took a 1-0 lead just 12 minutes into the game when Parker Antis drilled in an unassisted goal.
Myers Park scored twice before halftime to take a 2-1 lead. Championship MVP Justin Davis had the first goal, and Brenden Kelly had the second one.
“When we go down a goal, we don't go ‘Aw, man, we're done for,'” Davis said. “We pick ourselves back up, score a goal, and then we're back on track.”
Myers Park, which set a school record for wins, grabbed a 4-1 second-half lead. With about 11 minutes to play, Casey Caronis and Patrick Lipps scored less than two minutes apart.
The offensive push was exactly what coach Bucky McCarley wanted.
“I would like to think of this team as not a team that was wanting to sit back and defend,” McCarley said. “I wanted them to be direct, and I wanted them to continue to be the aggressor and not sit back and be satisfied with anything less than that.”
New Hanover, the first team from New Hanover County ever to reach the finals, kept pushing. C.J. Pennock scored with 5 minutes, 57 seconds to play and Myers Park senior Jordan Dabestani got a red card with just more than four minutes remaining. That gave the Wildcats a one-man advantage for the remainder of the game.
New Hanover's Ross Tomaselli scored with 3:15 left to close the Mustangs' lead to one, but didn't get any good opportunities after that. Myers Park's Brenden Kelly had a chance to put away the game on a penalty kick with 64 seconds left, but his shot was deflected by Wildcats' goalie Clayton Adams. Even without that goal, Myers Park had done enough to get its championship.
“I think (their depth) played a part. I think we just got taken out of our game,” New Hanover coach Al Pastore said. “We were possessing, but we weren't going forward.”
McCarley was pleased to see his team, even when pushed, keep attacking.
“For us to get a PK late,” he said, “it showed that we were still continuing to go forward and be direct. That's what I wanted the guys to do. We're just too skilled to sit back and defend.”
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