RECAP
Luke Sganga [Utah] had a career game for Southlake and led all scorers with an unofficial 8 goals, 1 assist in Southlake’s 14-6 win over ESD on Wednesday night at Carroll High School. Southlake is loaded with talent and Wednesday night proved they are a legit title contender in 2023.
Southlake [5-1] came into Wednesday hunting their 2nd District win in the Class A West. The West is the most competitive district in Texas, so any win is important. For Southlake, Wednesday was the first time in program history (we think) for the Dragons to beat ESD [2-1]. They are now in poll position in the West standings headed into Spring Break. If the Dragons can some how knock off Jesuit and Coppell in the back half of their season, they will complete their sweep of the West having already dispatched Keller, Allen, and now ESD.
ESD was 2-0 with very convincing wins over Houston Christian and Kinkaid on the books coming into the contest. The Eagles outscored HCHS [2-5] and Kinkaid [2-5] by a combined score of 39-3 in their first two match-ups of the young 2023 season.
On Wednesday, Southlake’s early season experience proved very valuable. The Dragons came into the contest in mid-season form having already played 5 quality opponents. Their previous game was a 2-goal loss (7-9) to St. Mark’s back on February 28th.
In the loss, ESD’s offense was powered by Cooper Raney’s big shot. Raney led all scorers for the Eagles with 4 highlight-quality goals including one from 15 yards. Raney is a threat to opposition just about anywhere on the field and will continue to play a massive role for ESD's offense moving forward. Also getting in on the scoring effort was Jake Swift and Xavier Montiero [Westminster] each with 1 goal.
Anchored by Senior net-minder, Zane Mammoser, the Dragon defense were organized, energetic, and communicative throughout the entire game. Keeping ESD's numerous threats to just 6 goals is an amazing accomplishment and something for this group to build on!
Offensively, Southlake was exceptional all night. The Dragons valued their possessions, got balanced in the half field, applied initial leverage in numerous ways, and then let the ball swing. Once the ball was moving, Sganga was ready to dodge and finish plays on the backside against the recovering ESD defense all night. Rounding out the potent Southlake offensive effort was Christian Coniglio(2g,1a), Quinn Tyler(1g, 3a), and Sam Sheehan(1g, 3a). Jack Manero [Army] and Max Bushaw [2026] each scored once as well.
In the early going, the game felt like it was in the balance as teams exchanged blows until it was knotted at 2s. Then, Sganga got caught fire and Southlake never looked back. The Dragons took a 4-2 lead into the 2nd quarter, led 8-3 at the half, and were up 12-5 to start the final frame.
Both teams will take trips to compete outside of Texas over Spring Break. The Dragons look to continue building momentum and head west to California to take on La Costa Canyon, Coronado, and San Marcos. The Eagles will look to hit their stride out-of-state before getting into the meat of their schedule after the break as the Eagles travel to South Carolina to take on Porter Gaud, Wando, and Lucy Beckham for their annual Spring Break trip.
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