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Soccer: Nolan Williams’ lone goal enough to give South win over West
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Dino Stavros dribbles past the West Forsyth defenders in the Friday, March 19 victory.

Nolan Williams scored the first goal of his high school career 11 minutes into Friday's matchup against West Forsyth, which proved to be enough for South to win 1-0.

“It was a high-intensity game,” South head coach Chere’ Thomas. “Once we settled down, I thought we were playing really well. Wish we had put a few more in the back of the net on our opportunities, but overall we played really well.” 

Both teams' defenses were on fire, and whenever shots did get through, both goalies blocked all shots other than the goal. Thomas said she was proud of her new defensive line that is entirely different than her team in 2019. 

“We went in with a mindset that we were going to have to be very defensive and stand our ground,” Thomas said. “They really held their line and stepped up when we needed them the most.” 

West’s Josh Bateman shot five times in the game but South’s goalie Ian Spera blocked all of them. The West coaching staff said that they were very proud of their team and plan to keep pushing through the end of the season. 

“We’re not changing anything,” West assistant coach Sean McNew said. “This team is a playoff team right now. I think we showed that tonight and all season.”

West still has Lambert and Forsyth Central in its region schedule, two teams ahead of them in the region standings. McNew said he definitely plans on his team playing in the state tournament. 

South has scored just one goal in only one other game this season, a 1-0 victory over Cambridge. Thomas said she would have liked to score more goals in the game, but was proud to walk away with a win. 

South still has Denmark and Lambert left in its region schedule. The War Eagles' only loss of the season was against Forsyth Central, but South still has a shot to win the region championship. 

“We need to continue to work hard and come into practice everyday like we’re in a game situation,” Thomas said. “We just need to keep our focus on one game at a time.”

South (9-1, 3-1 Region 6-7A) travels to Denmark on Thursday, while West (6-5, 1-3 Region 6-7A) returns to its region schedule on Friday against Lambert.