Hopewell rolls past conference soccer rival North Meck, keeps hold on first place
Hopewell High’s soccer team won its fifth straight game Tuesday, knocking off rival North Mecklenburg 7-0 to stay unbeaten in Queen City 3A/4A conference play.
The Titans (10-1-2, 5-0) remain in first place, ahead of Hough (7-6-3, 5-0-1). Hough beat Harding 9-0 Tuesday.
North Meckenburg fell to 5-9 overall, 3-2 in league play.
“We had a heck of a game tonight,” Hopewell head coach DJ Mehall said after the game. “We finally put it all together, we’ve had some rough ones in the past you know, not playing all 80 minutes, but tonight we actually did. We put together a heck of a first half and played a close out second half.”
The first half certainly set the tone for the game, as Hopewell immediately established a breakneck pace that North Meck couldn’t match.
Titans’ senior captain Alejandro Morales got the first goal with 7:42 left in the first half. Three minutes later, he scored again.
“As individuals I felt like we all connected,” Morales said. “I feel like I did my part by centering my passes, and you know just playing my game. I feel like as a team we played really well, just kept moving the ball and we scored you know.”
The connection Morales described was apparent in the second half, when five different Titans scored.
While his team certainly put on a dominant performance, Mehall emphasized the importance of keeping his team locked in.
“We just want to take it one game at a time,” Mehall said. “We’ve got one against West Meck tomorrow, so we’re just going to focus on taking care of them tomorrow and taking it game by game from there.”
Three who made a difference
Alejandro Morales, Hopewell: The Titans senior captain was the centerpiece of his team’s victory, scoring the first two goals of the match and setting his teammates up with timely passes down the stretch.
Elmer Salmeron, Hopewell: Another senior leader for the Titans, Salmeron kicked off the scoring for Hopewell in the second half along with setting up several of his teammates up with scoring opportunities thanks to some accurate passing.
Cooper Kullmam, Hopewell: The Hopewell goalkeeper wasn’t asked to do much, but he did make a couple of saves to secure the Titans shutout.
What’s next
Both teams have very quick turnarounds in order to make up games that were postponed due to Hurricane Helene.
Hopewell will travel to West Meck on Wednesday, while North Meck heads to J.C. Chambers.
Scoring summary
Hopewell – 2 5 7
North Meck – 0 0 0
First Half
(H) – Alejandro Morales goal with 7:42 remaining
(H) – Morales goal with 4:04 remaining
Second Half
(H) – Elmer Salmeron goal with 25:35 remaining
(H) – Ethan Covaci penalty kick with 22:33 remaining
(H) – Tyler Howe goal with 21:26 remaining
(H) – Jason Allende goal with 12:15 remaining
(H) – Anthony Cruz goal with 6:39 remaining