Raleigh’s Wakefield High stops Marvin Ridge in NCHSAA 4A soccer championship

Jason Zak talked about his team’s comeback and its resilience, and he lauded the opponent’s ability.

But mostly, Zak rued the small differences between being a champion and a runner-up — and the way those teams are remembered.

“You know what I really don’t like about this?” Zak said Saturday afternoon after his Marvin Ridge team fell 3-2 to Wakefield in the N.C. High School Athletic Association’s 4A state championship match. “There is no banner hung in the gym for a runner-up team.

“Years later, people forget about the teams that finish second. And that’s a shame, because this team deserves to be remembered.”

Zak, who has been coaching high school soccer for 25 years, is speaking from experience. He guided Marvin Ridge to state championships in 2013 and 2016, but his 2018 team finished second.

In the end, the banner will go in the Wakefield gym, celebrating the Wolverines’ first state championship in the sport.

“I’m so happy for the school,” head coach Tony Calabria said. “We needed this. Our fans have traveled with us in big numbers. And our team has brought pure joy to our school.”

The difference between a banner and no banner was a 74th-minute goal by Wolverines senior forward Zayd Dahir, who took advantage of an errant Marvin Ridge pass, found some open space on the left side of the Mavericks’ goal, and unloaded a looping line drive that passed just under the crossbar.

Dahir’s goal was about the only moment in the second half that wasn’t dominated by Marvin Ridge (18-5-2), which entered the finals on a 14-game winning streak after a 4-4-2 start to the season.

Wakefield (23-4) got first-half goals from Diego Vasquez at 10:07 of the match and Santiago Londono-Palomino at the 19:57 mark.

The Wolverines dominated the opening 40 minutes.

The second half was a 180-degree turnaround. Marvin Ridge outshot the Wolverines 11-2 and had five shots on goal to Wakefield’s one.

“In the second half, we felt that if we could be first to the ball, we could make things happen,” sophomore forward Collin McKee said.

McKee made things happen in the 42nd minute, scoring off an assist by Cassia McKinnon. Then a Wakefield hand ball in the goal box resulted in a Marvin Ridge penalty kick, which Brady Lloyd converted in the 74th minute.

“We started playing back a little more in the second half,” said Wakefield’s standout senior striker, Ibra Ndiaye, who had two assists and was named the match’s Most Valuable Player. After the second Marvin Ridge goal, Ndiaye said, “We started pressing again. We tried to force the ball downfield.”

And there were those close calls — the kind of plays that Zak said made a difference between a banner and no banner. Wakefield goalkeeper Davison Sauls stopped Marvin Ridge’s Max Grafakos on a penalty kick in the 11th minute, and three Marvin Ridge shots clanked off the top crossbar.

“We put ourselves in a hole early, but I’m proud of the way our guys battled back,” Zak said. “If we’d played the first half the way we played the second half, it would have been different.”

Of note

▪ Marvin Ridge’s McKee, a sophomore, had another big game. He had five of his team’s 18 shots, all of them on target. McKee scored the winning goals in the Mavericks’ quarterfinal overtime victory against Myers Park and then in the semifinals against Charlotte Catholic.

▪ In a noteworthy sign of good sportsmanship, several Wakefield players took the time afterward to console Marvin Ridge players. “I thought about how close it was to us being in their shoes,” goalkeeper Sauls said.

“It hurt my heart to see how they collapsed on the field afterward, because both teams played so well,” Dahir added.

▪ Wakefield was accustomed to the narrow victory. Calabria noted that the Wolverines had seven overtime games, two victories settled by penalty kicks, and a match played in what he called “a total monsoon.”

▪ Zak split time frequently during the season between his two goalkeepers, senior Thomas Jacobson and sophomore Crawford Fehling. Such was the case Saturday, with Jacobson playing the first half and Fehling in the second.

Summary

Wakefield 2 1 — 3

Marvin Ridge 0 2 — 2

W — Diego Vasquez (Santiago Londono-Palomino)

W — Londono-Palomino (Ibra Ndiaye)

MR — Collin McKee (Cassian McKinnon)

MR — Brady Lloyd (penalty kick)

W — Zayd Dahir (Ndiaye)

Shots: Marvin Ridge 18, Wakefield 10

Shots on goal: Marvin Ridge 11, Wakefield 4

Fouls: Marvin Ridge 8, Wakefield 3

Corner kicks: Marvin Ridge 8, Wakefield 3

Yellow cards: Marvin Ridge 2, Wakefield 3

This story was originally published November 23, 2024 at 3:16 PM.