The crowd bates its breath as Coppell senior forward Luis Mendez Gil runs towards his penalty kick and swiftly scores, bringing the Coppell boys soccer team to a 3-0 victory over Denton Guyer at Buddy Echols Field. 

The victory keeps the Cowboys in first place in District 5-6A. 

The beginning of the match featured eight unsuccessful shot attempts by Coppell and tight offense on either side. 

“The whole 40 minutes of the first half, they were in our half,” Coppell junior goalkeeper Chase Anderson said. “They kind of outplayed us a little, so I just had to focus mentally and get my teammates in check to withstand the hurricane they put on us.”

It was not until the second half that the energy on the field changed and the Cowboys started to land their goal attempts.

“To be honest, I think they came out with a pretty good game plan from the last time they’d seen us play, and they were executing it really, really well,” Coppell coach Stephen Morris said. “My guys were having a hard time sorting out how to make the adjustment. Once we went into halftime, we talked about it, we made our adjustments, we came back. I mean, they couldn’t get out of their own half.”

With Coppell senior forwards J McGill and Caden Naef’s sharp goals within the first 12 minutes of the second half, the Cowboys began to overpower the Wildcats. Coppell senior forwards Lorenzo Rodriguez-Santiago and Byson Patten, and junior forward Liam Spiller were key to maintaining Coppell’s control of the field with their strategic passes.

The shutout was largely due to steely defense and saves by Anderson.

“I was just taking my time,” Anderson said. “The second half we were up, so I was honestly just draining the clock. Honestly, it just gives us confidence. I think every single game we have confidence going into it and every single game we have confidence coming out. So I mean, this one is just another day in the office for us.”

The Cowboys play at Little Elm on Tuesday.

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