Boys' Soccer: No. 7 Wakefield 5, No. 5 Edison 1

Story By Jeffery Gibert
West
Potomac Senior, DigitalSports Intern

** Click the links above to access photos and video highlights from Friday’s game!

In a match-up of two undefeated teams, Wakefield handed Edison its first loss in emphatic fashion, 5-1.

“We just did our thing,” Warrior junior midfielder Pedroso Neto said.

Added senior attacking midfielder Rodrick Likonko: “”We thought the game was going to be really, really close. Edison is a really strong team.”

Both teams were very aggressive to start the game off. Nobody wanted to fall into an early hole. But, in the 10th minute, Warrior junior striker Jose Gonzalez put the Eagles in one.

“[Mohamed Jawara] grabbed the ball from the defender and he just put a long ball over,” Gonzalez said of the game-opening strike. “And I just ran it in and scored.”

Edison would not give up, though.

Down by just one, they were poised for an equalizer and, in the 22nd minute, they would get it when sophomore sensation Andy Najar Rodriguez headed in a ball coming off of a corner kick.

So far the game had been what was expected; two dominant teams fighting hard to keep their undefeated seasons alive, but that all changed in the 31st minute when Warrior senior midfielder Luis Gochez scored on a free kick.

“It was a free kick from 35 yards and I just shot it and it went in,” Gochez said.

Wakefield picked up the intensity after Gochez’s goal and would not relinquish the lead this time. The Warriors’ raised intensity was not the only obstacle for the Eagles to overcome, though, as Rodriguez went down with an injury. Edison was never the same afterward.

In the second half, Wakefield made sure that there was no come back for the Eagles as Jawara added goals in the 49th and 61st minutes.

“For my goal, if it wasn’t for Christian [Castro], I wouldn’t have scored on the first one,” Jawara said. “And my second one, [it was] by the grace of God.

“That’s how I scored.”

Less than two minutes after Jawara’s second goal, Neto got in on the fun, putting a shot in the back of the net in the 62nd minute.

“I was in the right,” he said. “I faked somebody, so they went to the left, so I came to the right and I kicked it, and I scored.”

Wakefield really put the moves on Edison defenders throughout the game.

It seemed like every other time down the field, a Warrior would do a spectacular move with the ball to keep the Wakefield fans on the edge of their seat.

“It’s Joga Bonito, man,” Likonko said of their finesse. “[We] try it. If it works, great. If it doesn’t, who really cares.”

Added Jawara: “Well basically, I learned it from my dad and watching Cristiano Ronaldo play on TV. That’s where I got my moves from.”

Edison would lose another key player, junior captain Andy Rasdorf, late.

Edison will look to heal up and bounce back against Stuart at home on Tuesday, while Wakefield will try to stay undefeated, on the road at Washington-Lee.