South Meck boys soccer rides ‘Road Dog’ mentality to 4A state championship game
After an up-and-down regular season, the Sabres had to settle for a 24-seed in the western region.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - There’s an age-old cliché in the world of sports.
“It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.”
The South Meck boys soccer team has been the perfect embodiment of that motto in the NCHSAA 4A state playoffs.
After an up-and-down regular season, the Sabres had to settle for a 24-seed in the western region.
“We emphasized at the end of the season, when we got the 24-seed that everybody was 0-0,” head coach Eric White said. “It’s a brand new season, we just had to win six matches. So far we’ve won five, trying to win six.”
Being such a low seed means that all five of those wins have come the hard way — on the road against some of the top teams in the state.
South Meck has beaten No. 9 Watauga, No. 8 Hopewell, No. 16 Porter Ridge, No. 5 Ardrey Kell, and No. 3 Hickory Ridge all on their own home fields to reach this state championship game.
“We’re road dogs, we’ve been road dogs this whole season,” senior Patrik Burling said. “We love playing away, it gives us that energy to get that win.”
South Meck hasn’t been to the state championship since winning it all in 2015. Coach White says there have been some close calls with semifinal appearances, but this year’s team has done what needed to be done to get back to this game.
“I mean they’re a resilient group,” White said. “There was points that I was worried that we were going to break, and they never broke. They stayed with it, now here we stand.”
The Sabres play Apex Friendship at 7 p.m. Friday at MacPherson Stadium in Greensboro for the NCHSAA 4A state championship.
Download the free WBTV News app for the latest stories sent straight to your device.
Watch continuous news coverage below:
Copyright 2023 WBTV. All rights reserved.
