soccer championships begin tonight

Soccer championships begin tonight

From staff reports

Four championships will be up for grabs this weekend in the annual

North Carolina High School Athletic Association's state men's soccer

championships.

The games will be played at the Durham Bulls Soccer Stadium at the

WRAL Soccer Center in Raleigh. Two games will be played on Friday, and

two are scheduled Saturday.

The championship weekend will get underway with the 1-A title match on

Friday at 5 p.m., sending the North Carolina School of Science and

Math Unicorns from Durham against the Eagles of East Montgomery.

East (22-1-1) and NCSSM (18-4-1) are both making their initial

appearances in the state finals. East is led by Charlie Williams, who

has scored 10 goals in the postseason, and Miguel Cruz. Gabe Whaley is

NCSSM's leading scorer with 26 goals on the year.

The 3-A championship is set for Friday night at 7:30 with unbeaten

Lake Norman (28-0) seeking its second consecutive crown and 56th win

in a row against Wilson's Ralph L. Fike (21-4-1). Matt Foxx, the North

Piedmont Conference Player of the Year, leads Lake Norman and has

tallied 32 goals on the year.

Fike has been extraordinary in the playoffs, knocking off four

consecutive number-one seeds from their respective conferences.

Cardinal Gibbons makes its third straight trip to the finals and seeks

to defend its 2-A crown as the Crusaders (23-2-2) take on the Red

Devils of Newton-Conover (21-6) on Saturday at 5 p.m. Junior forwards

Daniel Montero and Seph Babbington lead Gibbons, with Babbington the

MVP of the state championship match last year.

Newton-Conover, in its first men's soccer final ever, has not lost to

a 2-A team all year and is led by all-state performer Brian George,

who has scored 22 goals.

The final match on Saturday will be for the 4-A championship, as

top-ranked and defending champion Raleigh Broughton (27-0-1) collides

with Greensboro Grimsley (20-3-1) at 7:30.

Broughton has ripped off 25 consecutive victories and Brandon Haynes

has led the way for the Caps with 22 goals. Big 6-5 midfielder David

Dupont tallied the only goal for Grimsley in its 1-0 victory over

defending West 4-A champ North Mecklenburg in the regional final.

Tickets will be $8 at the gate.

Wendy's and the Carolina Ford Dealers are the presenting sponsors of

the NCHSAA sports program, and the Raleigh Sports Consortium serves as