Jeff Goolsbey / Times Record News
Rider’s Seth Lyons (5) tumbles to the turf as he battles for the ball with Wichita Falls High School’s Diego Saldana during the first half Friday.  Jeff Goolsbey / Times Record News Rider's Josh Findlay (left) scores a goal to give the Raiders a 1-0 lead in the first half as Wichita Falls High School's Ricky Gardea moves in Friday night at Memorial Stadium. 
Jeff Goolsbey / Times Record News RWichita Falls High School's Juan Carlos Hernandez (left) and Rider's Travis Moore battle for the ball in the first half Friday night at Memorial Stadium. | . |
March 13, 2010
By Andy Newberry Times Record News
The Raiders finished an undefeated District 9-4A soccer season with a 2-0 shutout of Wichita Falls High School at Memorial Stadium to make it 10 wins and 10 shutouts in league play.
And this time the offense showed up early and the outcome was never much in doubt after Josh Findlay and Harrison Howard found the back of the net in the first 25 minutes.
Findlay pressured a Coyote defender and wasted no time drilling in a 25-yard shot for a 1-0 lead in the 18th minute. It was the team-leading 11th goal of the year for Findlay.
And something the Raiders have really been working — set pieces — paid off as the long throw of Seth Lyons found the head of Howard to double the lead in the 25th minute.
“We’ve been practicing hard all week,” Lyons said. “We wanted to keep the undefeated season alive and the shutout streak. We wanted to be the first team to be unscored upon in district.
“It’s always fun to throw the ball. Whatever I can do to help. We’ve been practicing those a lot. We’ve been working on it and finally got some to go in.”
Rider coach Josh Hill said Lyons’ throws have become better than a corner kick. His precision and strength have become a real weapon deep in the attacking third of the field.
Lyons was proud of his defensive teammates.
“It says they’re real talented and they don’t want to get scored on in the back,” he said. “We’re going to work hard and do whatever we can. We want to make it as a far as we can and go to the state championships.”
The Raiders won state in 2007, when this senior class were freshmen. This group has a long ways to go to match that, but for regular-season perfection they were able to do it by slowing down the Coyotes’ high-scoring forwards Jorge Lopez and Juan Carlos Hernandez.
“I thought they did a good job on us,” WFHS coach Sam Reed said. “They know those two guys are dangerous. They defended them well. We didn’t have a lot of chances.
“We knew we’d have to keep the ball on the ground, and sometimes it’s hard to do against those guys. When they knock the ball in the air, it’s their advantage. And it’s hard to defend long throw-ins like that.”
Despite the goals, Reed felt goalkeeper Alex Garcia made some good saves.
“I thought we played a lot better in the second half,” Reed said. “Our best chances came on free kicks, but we just didn’t get anyone going to the ball. That’s something we have to fix.
“We have to take this game and look at the positives, but also look and see what we did wrong and fix it for the playoffs. This is one of the better years I’ve had hear. We’ve got 14 wins and I hadn’t got second since I’d been here. That says a lot about these guys.”
Hill has been on the Rider staff, but this is his first season as head coach. He was happy to see the team accomplish one of its first goals.
“Our defense was just solid,” Hill said. “They closed the space down so fast. They set the tone early and they weren’t able to get into a rhythm.
“Three guys were on the defense last year. And Andrew Goldstein, this is his first year in his life on defense. I don’t think they talked about it a lot, but based on how they reacted you could tell they wanted this. We’re district champs!”
WFHS (14-6-2, 8-2) and Rider will play in the Region I-4A playoffs on March 22 or March 23.
