The freezing breeze arrived. The stands emptied. The Cowboys came together with parkas and blankets on the bench and Lewisville kicked off. 

It wouldn’t be much later until the Coppell boys soccer team rose in celebration. 

Two minutes into the match, the horn rang as Coppell sophomore forward Preston Taylor’s corner kick found Coppell sophomore midfielder Alejandro Reyes’ head, who sunk the ball in the back of the net.

Coppell (8-5-1, 4-1 District 6-6A) defeated Lewisville (3-8-3, 0-4-1) on Tuesday night at Buddy Echols Field, 3-0. 

“[The match] was scrappy,” Reyes said. “We got all three goals off corners, but a win is a win. We’ve been focusing on scoring early since pre-season [so as to] get the game under control.”

The Cowboys had two apparent goals taken off the scoreboard due to fouls and Coppell began to sit deeper in and play reactionary soccer. 

Coppell held the 1-0 lead through the half and came back reinvigorated after a halftime pep talk from Coppell coach James Balcom on one topic: energy. Entering the second half, the speed of play between the Cowboys greatly increased and Coppell took the game to Lewisivlle. 

“The goal by Reyes set us forward and put us in the game. [But] one goal was not enough and we needed to put the game away,” Taylor said. “We kept playing and trying to get another point up on the board to put the game away. ”

With 14:11 remaining in the match, Coppell senior midfielder Alex Salvo headed in another corner kick, bringing Coppell’s lead to 2-0.

As the match came to a close with 36 seconds remaining on the clock, Coppell senior defender Ilhan Muslija tapped in the last goal of the night, allowing the Cowboys to walk away with the 3-0 win.

“The energy that we brought [allowed us to] put the game away,” Taylor said. “Those last two goals kept us in the game.”

Coppell remains tied for the first seed in District 6-6A alongside Plano and Marcus with two matches left in the first round of district play.

“[Our main focus] was winning and getting our head straight before the game,” Reyes said. “[Lewisville] was tough and fouled a lot. Getting through that, staying level-headed and keeping going [was the biggest challenge].”

The Cowboys travel to Plano East on Friday with kickoff at 7:30 p.m. 

Follow Torie (@torielpek) and @SidekickSports on Twitter.