Boys soccer: Wesley Chapel, Mitchell play to 1-1 tie

TRINITY Wesley Chapel was giving Mitchell too much respect.

That is, according to Coach Brian Dorkowski, his Wildcats were giving a lot of credit to the "overwhelming" Mustangs.

But Wesley Chapel (3-0-1, 2-0-1) stood tall against Mitchell (2-0-1, 1-0-1) in the Class 4A-District 7 matchup, pulling out a 1-1 tie Monday night.

"I didn't want them to come in overconfident (because Wesley Chapel dominated its first three games)," Dorkowski said. "I think we were a little too cautious and we hung with them in the first half, we knew in the second we'd have to be more physical."

The Mustangs scored first, but not until 34th minute when Max Rockwell's shot was deflected by Wildcats goalkeeper Christian Monahan, and Jason Leslie had the follow-up goal.

The Wildcats had scored eight goals in each of their previous three games, winning by a 24-4 margin. However, they were held scoreless in the first half.

Wesley Chapel didn't score until the 20th minute of the second half when Rafael Morales-siu picked up his 13th goal of the season on an assist from Jhon Forero.

Dorkowski felt the defense stepped up, keeping Mitchell's potent offense off balance and out of the goal box. Many of their scoring attempts came from 20- to 25-yard shots that went wide or "were floater shots that we were able to scoop up."

Mitchell coach Oscar Ubillus was not happy with two shots that were close to goals, but Monahan stopped while he was behind the goal line, and the refs said were legitimate saves. However, he was more displeased with his team's effort, especially knowing his players abilities and talents.

"We played well, but just didn't have enough chances to score," Ubillus said. "We should have won this game, and we were lazy, probably, sometimes going through the motions.

"They didn't approach the game properly. (Wesley Chapel) beat us on the field, and we didn't play to our potential and we paid the price - not the biggest price, but it's still a tie."