Varsity Boys Soccer continued District play last week with a match against Spring Woods on Wednesday night and one against Cypress Ridge on Saturday.

2/28: Spring Woods Tigers

The Spartans hosted the Tigers at Stratford Stadium, desperately seeking a win to have a chance at post-season play.

And the Spartans started the game aggressively on offense, with early drives and shots by Lorenzo Maule and Fabu Ndayishimiye.

The Tigers countered with several minutes of attacks that came close but were stopped by the Spartan defense.

It took about 10 minutes for the boys to get settled down and begin putting together good team plays.

About 20 minutes into the half, Everett Dwyer got free along the right side and took a shot that went just a bit wide left. A few minutes later, Ollie Burdick had a set piece opportunity and got off a clean shot, but it was saved by the Spring Woods keeper.

Then in the 23rd minute, the Spartans were able to create some magic. On a long ball from Johnny Lumpkin, Dwyer received it from the right side and passed into the middle to Burdick. Burdick took two touches and sent it back to Dwyer, who had broken free past the defense, took the shot, and put it at the bottom left side of the goal to put the Spartans on the board, 1-0!

Five minutes later, Hanno Waguespack took the ball up the left sideline, cut in to the middle and ripped a high shot to the center of the goal, but it was just tipped out by the keeper.

With 10 minutes left in the half, Spring Woods equalized on a counterattack, 1-1.

And they added to that with 4 minutes remaining with a goal from 35 yards out, 1-2.

Halftime, 1-2

Stratford came out hot again in the second half, with early shots by Fabu and Hanno.

However, the Tigers put up three straight goals in the 48’, 55’ and 63’, to make it 1-5.

Stratford tried to mount a comeback in the 70th minute, when Jose Mena recovered a ball in our own box, made a long pass up to Burdick, who put a nice through ball to the right side,  where Dwyer had beaten two defenders. Dwyer’s shot was blocked, but Burdick followed up with a quick volley to the right side of the goal, goal 2-5!

But Spring Woods just could not be stopped and put up two more goals before time expired to make it 2-7. A tough loss for the Spartans.

3/2: Cypress Ridge Rams

Having beaten the Rams in their previous meeting, the Spartans came out wanting to get the sweep.

But it was tough going from the beginning, as the Rams looked sharp and cohesive from the start, aptly supported by the home clock management and ball-boy team.

The Rams took possession from the beginning, with the ball in the Spartans back third from most of the first half and put up the first goal within 3 minutes of the start to make it 0-1.

Just one minute later, on a Spartan handball in the box, the Rams drove home another goal on the ensuing PPK, 0-2.

In the 20th minute, Ollie Burdick got a long ball out right to Everett Dwyer, who would have had an opportunity to score, but the Cy Ridge defender came out to challenge in a cleats-up tackle, which resulted in a red card. Cy Ridge would go on to play the rest of the match with 10 players.

The Spartans got their first shot on goal in the 26th minute, when Santi Chelala shot from long but was high over the goal. And then the shot opportunities just kept coming with shots taken by Juan Colo (header), Jasper Hartman, and Hanno Waguespack.

Cy Ridge added to their lead just before halftime with a free kick that no one was ready for, 0-3.

Halftime 0-3

The beginning of the second half brought a few more shots on goal, from Dwyer and Lorenzo Maule, but Cy Ridge was again winning the possession game and the goal chances were few and far between for several minutes.

Until the 80th minute. On a hard foul in the box on Burdick, Stratford was awarded a penalty kick. Jasper Hartman took the shot and converted to make it 1-3.

The Spartans started to attack to take advantage of some late momentum from the PK, with a few good team plays. With 7 minutes remaining, Chelala put a great through ball to Burdick, who got the tip of his foot on the ball to direct it on target, but it was grabbed by the keeper.

Then with 5 minutes left, Dwyer dribbled up the right side and put a cross to the middle, where Maule was in position to get the header, but the keeper again just barely tipped it out of play.

Again, the Spartans made a late play started by Johnny Lumpkin winning a challenge, passing the long ball up to Dwyer, but whose shot was just over the crossbar.

Stratford poured it on in the final minutes but just could not get a goal. The final result was a 1-3 loss to Cy Ridge.

The Spartans will wrap up their season this week with a Tuesday night home game against Memorial for Senior Night and a road game on Friday at Jersey Village.