February 26th marked a less than pleasant day for the boys’ soccer program. The team faced off against their long-standing rival Westwood High School.

Prior to the game, the Mavs were slightly shaken from their first loss against Hendrickson, a narrow defeat by one point (2-3).

“We’ve been slacking off in practice and getting too confident,” Alan Picasso (Grade 12) said. “Our chemistry has started to fall.”

Going into the match against Westwood, the odds seemed stacked in the Mavericks’ favor. McNeil had already played Westwood once this season, winning 3-0.

The JV B team took a victory against the ‘Wood, winning 1-0. From there, though, it went downhill. JV A fought hard and played a competitive game but ended up conceding a last minute goal for a loss, 1-2.

Varsity’s game started out rough,  with the Warriors scoring a goal within 30 seconds of the match. Caught off guard, the Mavs gave a valiant effort and managed to equalize the score before the end of the half.

“We’re playing fine, we are the better team out there, we just need to connect it together better,” Coach Justin Sharrock said to the team during the break.

Unfortunately, the Mavs were unable to comeback and ended up conceding two more goals for an end score of 1-3.

After the game tensions were high.

“This is a wake up call,” senior Barret Dover said to the team in reflection. “This is what happens when we don’t work together and argue with each other. We’ve been messing around in practice and it showed tonight and at Hendrickson.”

Coach Sean O’Connell intervened before talking to the team.

“We got unlucky. It’s not the end of the world though,” O’Connell said. “You’ve got a weekend, so go home, rest up, and come back ready to work on Monday.”

Despite the low spirits that night, the Mavericks had started a comeback already. They won against Rouse 2-0 at their first game of the week after Westwood. That same week, they went on to tie Stony Point 1-1, only conceding a goal at the end. They tied Pflugerville, also 1-1 and lost to Round Rock 0-1 in their final district game.

However, the Mavs will take on Bowie in the first round of the playoffs Thursday, at 8 p.m. at Kelly Reeves Athletic Complex.