The Stonewall Jackson boys soccer team cocky? Imagine that.
For a program whose highest win total in any single season stood at six, the Generals should have been as far away from cocky as humanly possible. Yet before their game against Central on April 20, that's exactly what they were. They knew they were going to win, it was only a matter of how bad.
"We thought it was going to be great because we had never beat Central before," Stonewall's Charles Metz said. "We thought we were going to kill them on their home field and it was going to be a great win."
To the dismay of all those confident Generals, they left Woodstock 2-1 losers. Crazy as it sounds, it was the best thing that could have happened.
Since then, the Generals have won three-straight games and find themselves very much in the hunt for the school's first-ever Shenandoah District regular-season championship.
"In a way, it was a good thing we lost," Metz said. "It brought us back down to earth."
Following the Central disaster, Stonewall (7-2, 4-1) has beaten Wilson Memorial twice and Riverheads once. The win against the Gladiators didn't exactly make up for the Central loss, but it sure came close.
Riverheads came into Quicksburg with an undefeated district record, but Stonewall scored early and often, winning 8-1. After the game, Riverheads coach Dickie Bell said he was impressed at the turnaround in the Stonewall soccer program.
"I'm really happy for [coach] Nate [Hissong]," he said. "He's had some really rough seasons. I'd like to have that team."
For the sudden turnaround to happen this year is a bit of a surprise considering the team includes just one senior and two juniors. The rest of the roster is filled with 12 sophomores and five freshman, several of which are in the starting lineup on a regular basis.
The biggest difference, Hissong said, is the level of desire among the players who returned from last year, which was virtually everyone. The team lost one senior.
"This year we have people that are committed," said Hissong, who is in his fifth season.
There have been very few players as committed as this year's group, Hissong said.
"They'd come out and see the amount of work they had to do and they'd drop out," he said of past seasons. "They didn't have the discipline."
That hard work is starting to pay dividends in a big way. Metz leads the team with 15 goals and seven assists. He is currently tied for the school record with 22 career assists, a record that will surely be his alone before it's all said and done. His 15 goals this season is only nine off the single-season record set by Brandon Ryman. Ryman also holds the career scoring record with 64, a mark Metz has his eyes squarely set on.
"Charles is one of the most complete players I've ever had," Hissong said. "He can play defense, win things in the middle and finish."
Individual goals are nice but, as cliché as it sounds, team goals are first and foremost for the Generals.
"We said we wanted to win the district," Metz said. "We said playing as a team is a goal and playing more physical."
With the help of Metz, Guillermo Cardoso and lone senior Shana Ryman, the Generals have their best shot at a title in their seven-year history. Cardoso, a second-team all district pick last year as a freshman, has 11 goals this season. Ryman, one of three females on the team, has played on the varsity since her freshman season. Together, they form the nucleus of a solid, successful soccer team, a far cry from what has been on display in the past.
"At our school soccer is looked down upon by everybody," Metz said, "Saying it's for wimps and things like that. Now, some of the same kids that said that are at games. Now they realize we have a pretty good program."
