South Men’s Varsity team won 3-2 Saturday against Southwest, but the victory didn’t come without a price for senior and goal keeper Miles Westrich.Westrich wrapped himself around the ball just as a Southwest player was taking a shot in the last few minutes of the first half. The crowd cheered when they saw that Westrich still had the ball, but they quited down quickly when he didn’t get up.

“I heard the crowd chanting, it felt like a movie,” said Westrich. As he stumbled off the field, the fans chanted, “Miles! Miles! Miles!” With a possible concussion, Westrich was out for the rest of the game, leaving senior Taylor Schertler to take his place.

“Our motto is next man up,” said coach Tamba Johnson. His reaction to Westrich’s being out of the game was of little concern. “We have two very good goalies…injuries happen.”

The game began very fast-paced, but that was almost expected considering South and Southwest are both highly ranked teams in the state, with South at #3 and Southwest at #6 prior to the game. The game stayed intense all the way up until the final whistle. The score stayed 1-1 until well into the 2nd half, when Southwest got a goal past Schertler off of a throw-in, the last goal they got in the game, and the only one they got by Schertler. “There are good shots, and then there are shots like that,” said Schertler, “it was a beautiful shot.”

However, only two minutes later, before fans could even start worrying, junior and team captain  Elliot Cassutt scored his second goal of the game, tying it up once again.

Southwest, and the referees kept the team on their toes for the rest of the half. South received more than one yellow card and a red card during the game. Johnson noted after the game that the team needs to work on “staying composed, not letting our emotions get the best of us.”

The fans screamed, stomped, and when the final whistle blew, they started jumping over the fence to congratulate the team. As for next week’s Super Soccer Saturday at Southwest, Cassutt said he plans to “give them fewer goals.”

The Women’s Varsity team also played an aggressive game earning a few yellow cards themselves, but they kept up their defense with a final score of 2-0. “We’re a defense-first team,” said coach Lawrence Tsoi, “the shut-out is important to us.”

The first goal was scored by junior Carter Denison in the first half, and the second was made on a penalty kick by senior Rebekah Smith. “Lawrence [Tsoi] wanted someone else to take it, but I said I would,” said Smith, “I didn’t hear anything,  just saw the back of the net.”