A season of ups and downs came to an end for the Southmont boys’ soccer team on Wednesday night as the Mounties fell 8-1 in the Class 2A Sectional No. 25 semifinals to the No. 16 ranked Tri-West Bruins. Senior Luke McElwee scored the lone goal for the Mounties with less than a minute left in the game.
“After that first goal is when we started to break down,” coach Stephanie Kennedy said. “For them out there tonight it wasn’t just a physical battle but also a mental one. This is something that’s happened this season and in previous seasons is when we fell behind it was just really hard to get back into the game.”
The Mounties end the season with a record of 3-7-1 and saw the careers of four seniors come to and end. Along with McElwee, Beckett Jett, Beck McIntyre, and Isiah Gayler will say goodbye to their soccer careers for the Mounties. Kennedy took some time to give praise to all four seniors after the game.
“For my first season it was awesome to have these guys as role models and leaders for the this season,” she said. “Having a new coach is hard to enough to go through, but then all of the issues with COVID that we had to deal with, they did an awesome job and I’m proud of what they accomplished, and they helped this team grow a lot.”
Coming into this season one of Kennedy’s goals was pretty simple: continue to grow and build off last season. The record may not show it but Kenndedy did say that goal of hers was accomplished.
“I think they definitely showed improvement throughout the course of the year,” she said. “It may not be the record that they wanted, however they did grow as a team and as a coach that’s all I can ask for.”
Playing the 16th ranked team in Class 2A was a challenge for the Mounties, but playing such a tough opponent can show the team a level that they want to reach. The first time these two teams met the Bruins held a 1-0 lead at the half.
“That game when we played them earlier shows that we can compete with that type of team,” Kennedy said. “It comes down getting over that mentality hurdle and knowing that it is possible to stay in games against tough teams.”
The Bruins will now play in the sectional title game on Saturday against Danville at 7 p.m.
