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Senior Multimedia/Content Editor
Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area
*Click the links above the video for full multimedia coverage of Thursday's match!*
Before its Senior Night match with Herndon, No. 10 Wakefield paraded 15 players to midfield, honoring them for completing their high-school careers.
After the match, the same handful of seniors posed for group photo, with Silly String and bottled water flying overhead.
But for 80 minutes in-between, it was one of the four Warriors standing away from the celebration that stole the spotlight.
Wakefield junior Jose Gonzalez scored twice, including a dazzling 50-yard run in the 80th minute, as the Warriors beat the Hornets, 2-0, on Thursday.
"We've been practicing all week and it doesn't matter if I'm a junior," said Gonzalez, who also netted the initial, go-ahead goal in the 50th minute. "It's for the team. It doesn't matter if I'm a junior or a senior.
"We work together. It doesn't matter who scores, who does what. As a team, we just come together and that's how we win the games."
A formation change didn't hurt the Wakefield cause, either.
After a scoreless first half in which the Warriors held a slight -- but decided -- possession advantage, Wakefield dropped from a 4-4-2 to a 4-5-1 arrangement and aimed to counterattack. The adjustment played to its strength and paid dividends through Gonzalez.
The best Herndon scoring chance came on a corner kick in the 16th minute.
Out-swinging service was headed on to the top-left of the penalty area. The ball floated to junior defender Jason Webster, who trapped it with his chest and sent a first-touch, left-footed volley to the far post.
But 6-foot, 4-inch Warrior senior goalkeeper Eugene Othepa saw the shot the whole way.
Othepa leaped to shield the upper-90 and batted the ball clear to preserve the clean sheet, his fourth this season.
"On that play, I know my defenders were on the second post, so I covered the first post," said Othepa, who has injured both shoulders this year, the left more seriously than the right. "When he kicked, he did a volley. I did just one step, diving on my left side, and that's what I've been practicing all the time. That's the shoulder I messed up, so I've been working hard on that.
"And, thank God, today it worked out."
Email: pmurphy@digitalsports.com
Herndon 0 0 -- 0
No. 10 Wakefield 0 2 -- 2
Goals:
WK -- Gonzalez (50)
WK -- Gonzalez (80)



