The Men’s Soccer team is ready for the state playoffs coming off a NAC-6 conference championship victory over Heritage. The team locked up a 4th seed in the East and faced the 29th-ranked Sanderson Spartans on Monday the 30th. The Wildcats finished the regular season with 14-5-1 and 9-1 in the conference: team captain and leading scorer, Marshall Buffaloe, finished with 26 goals. 

Senior Right back, AJ Wilson, spoke about how the team turned it around after beginning the season 1-4. “It started with trusting each other and learning to play for each other and not just as an individual.” Once the team gelled together after a rough start, the Wildcats ended the regular season with a 9-game tear through the NAC. Wilson also brought up how the defense stepped up during the tough games and everybody began doing their job. 

“We adopted a bend but don’t break mentality to keep us in close games and trusted our offense to do the rest,” he said.

  A vital addition to the lineup was Senior Andoni Mayoral, who added another layer of versatility to their already strong team. In the last four games, including two in the conference tournament, Mayoral has four goals and an assist to Marshall Buffaloe for the eventual game-winner for the NAC-6 championship. 

  “We won’t back down from any challenge, we’re here to fight and give maximum effort to reach our goals,” Mayoral said when asked about the teams’ chances of making a deep run in the state playoffs.

  With a Millbrook win, they will move on to play  Cardinal Gibbons, who defeated East Chapel Hill 3-0.