COVINGTON, Ga. — When the playoffs began for the Eastside boys soccer team on Wednesday, they picked up right where they left off with a 10-0 rout over McDonough.
The Eagles entered the Class AAAA first round matchup at Sharp Stadium with a perfect 14-0 record on the season, and they stayed unscathed against the nine-win Warhawks.
Going into Wednesday’s match, Eagles’ head coach Jabari Bennett expected a certain style of play out the gate from his team.
“Before the game started, I made it very clear, I wanted us to finish our chances early,” Bennett said. “That being said, I did not expect us to finish them that early.”
Just three minutes into the match, senior captain Thomas Hill put the Eagles ahead. Hill received a pass in the box and scored on a physical goal against the keeper.
Two minutes later, Hudson Harris got in on the action.
Off a pass from Alexis Vieyra, Harris scored on a power shot from the edge of the box for another Eagles’ goal.
After just a few minutes, the pair of juniors repeated it.
Vieyra connected with Harris for another goal from inside the box as Eastside ramped up to a 3-0 lead in just six minutes of game time.
From there, the McDonough defense managed to stop a few attacks from the Eagles. However, Eatside’s back line played just as well as the Warhawks did not seem to gain much of any momentum on the offensive end.
After racking up two assists early, Vieyra scored a goal of his own.
Senior Wanderon Johnson crossed the ball inside to Vieyra, who sent the ball into the back of the net on a short goal to put Eastside ahead 4-0.
At the 21-minute mark of the first half, Harris completed his hat trick on another assist from Vieyra.
After a quality match from Harris, Bennett has nothing but great things to say about the junior, who he has coached for years.
“From tonight, honestly he moved the ball really well. He finished his chances that he needed to finish and he played the balls that needed to be played,” Bennett said. “This was by far his best game all season. I am just proud of him, I have had him since his eighth grade year as a JV player and to now have him as a junior. This year has been phenomenal, the growth has been tremendous.”
McDonough managed to have its first shots on target of the day late in the opening half on attempts from Ndamake Kassim Diarra.
Eastside had a pair of quality chances late in the first half with a penalty kick from Caleb Adams and a good opportunity from Cavahn Cudjoe Chow, but both attempts were off the mark.
However, Hill scored Eastside’s sixth goal of the game with four minutes left in the half. Hill converted on the shot from close range for his second of the match.
When the game transitioned into the second half, not much changed between the two teams as Eastside scored just four minutes into the frame.
Evan Angeles found his way into the box before depositing the ball into the back of the net to make it a 7-0 lead.
Following Harris’ fourth goal of the match to make it a 8-0 advantage, Vieyra arguably scored the longest shot of the contest.
Running to his right from well outside the box, Vieyra sent a rocket to the top of the net for the Eagles’ ninth goal.
Less than a minute later, Eastside ended the game via mercy rule.
Jonathan Gomez dribbled into the box and baited the keeper before making a quick pass to Jackson Dobbs, who made the shot into an open net.
Dobbs’ goal sent the Eagles’ bench into a frenzy as multiple players raced down the pitch to swarm Dobbs after the winning goal.
Harris ended the match with four goals while Hill and Vierya each netted a brace.
After the team’s seventh shutout victory of the season, Bennett made an intentional effort to talk about his back line and his keeper, Tucker Consuegra.
“I told them to play the way they have been playing all year. We knew coming in they were going to be physical and be fast and you saw that in the game too. They were moving the ball over the top and that was a problem for us. I will not deny that,” Bennett said. “But, they settled in and they handled it really well. Luckily for us, we have a class goalkeeper as well to help with our defenders. I feel like Tucker has gone really underappreciated this year. I got to say this, he might be one of the greatest goalkeepers we have ever had come through this program.”
The win moved the Eagles to 15-0 on the season and marked the second time this season they have won a match 10-0.
Next up for the Eagles is a match with St. Pius X Catholic(15-4, 7-2) in the Sweet 16 at Sharp Stadium. St. Pius defeated Benedictine(11-7, 8-2) in the opening round.
