Warriors Drop Previously Unbeaten Winter Park, 20-4

Last Friday night witnessed a match-up of the two remaining undefeated Orange County Public School programs. The West Orange Warriors out of the West Metro Conference and the Winter Park Wildcats out of the East Metro Conference both entered the match-up with identical 5-0 records. An explosive start in the first quarter by the Warriors quickly established which team would remain unblemished, as WO marched to a decisive 20-4 victory.

Highlighting the Warriors offense was senior attackman Liam Mueller’s performance. The nifty attackman would end the evening with a school-record 12 goals to go along with two assists, eclipsing the previous record Liam set himself last year with 11 goals against Wekiva.

The Warrior offense’s ability to quickly adjust to the Wildcats’ defensive game plan afforded Liam ample opportunities to capitalize with his goal-scoring ability. Additionally, the rugged and aggressive play from the WO defense created a number of fast-break scenarios for the Warriors to take advantage of.

Just over three minutes into the first quarter senior midfielder Daniel Luette fed Liam on a fast break, who finished with an impressive back-handed finish to start the scoring. The Warrior defense created two more fast breaks in less than two minutes that led to goals for Liam, both assisted by fellow senior attackman Mike Ross. After a WP goal made it 3-1, junior attackman Mikey Berkman fed Liam off a drive from X for Liam’s fourth goal.

Liam would draw a penalty from the WP defense, bringing out the Warriors’ extra-man offense. Senior midfielder Zach Malaussena dished to fellow senior midfielder Justin Bittenbender who cranked a blistering shot in the goal from 10-yards out. Liam would then return the favor, feeding Mike for a goal.

The impressive first quarter ended with a brilliant individual effort by junior midfielder Nick Witten. With only seven seconds remaining, Nick played a ball in from out of bounds and drove to the goal, finishing with the ball in the net just as the quarter came to an end, giving the Warriors a 7-1 lead.

The fast break bonanza continued for the Warriors in the second quarter, as senior defensive middie Nolan Dyer drove down the field before kicking the ball to Liam for his fifth goal.

Winter Park would cut into the Warriors’ lead with back-to-back goals in under a minute. Out of a WO timeout, Zach won the ensuing face-off and charged the WP defense, pulling Liam free of his defender and ending any hope of a Wildcats’ comeback just seven seconds later.

Liam would score the next two goals off assists from Mikey before the junior attackman would score his first goal of the evening unassisted to end the half giving the Warriors a healthy 12-3 lead.

As mentioned earlier, the offensive production for the Warriors would not have been possible if it was not for the intense play by the defense. In total, seven Warrior defenders had their hand in causing turnovers. Senior close-d Jake Fromberg led the Warriors with five caused turnovers. Sophomore close-d Robert Luette and senior LSM Jon Finch added three each.

The Winter Park offense still had opportunities to convert goals throughout the evening, as one would expect from an undefeated and talented program. However, when those chances did occur, they were unable to get past WO’s sophomore goalie, Sam Malaussena. Sam notched eight saves alone in the second quarter and ended the evening with a career-best 16 saves. Not lost in the victory was the effectiveness of Sam’s outlet passes off saves that spurred many of the Warriors’ fast break opportunities.

Wanting to quell any hope of a WP comeback, the Warriors’ attack took charge early in the second half. Liam scored unassisted followed by junior attackman Ryan Burdon’s goal off an assist from Mikey. Mikey would then assist Liam, making the score 15-3 and bringing on a running clock. Thirty-seconds later, Mikey scored off Liam’s assist and would answer WP’s final goal with an unassisted goal of his own.

The pair would hook up once more, with Mikey assisting Liam to bring the score to 18-3 in the fourth quarter. Mikey would end the evening with an impressive six assists to go with three goals. Minutes later, Liam notched his record-breaking 12^th goal off an assist from his brother, sophomore midfielder, Logan Mueller. Ryan would finish the scoring for the Warriors with an assisted goal from sophomore midfielder Matt Nastasi.

The Warriors will end their seven-game road trip to start season with a visit to district-opponent Wekiva on Wednesday, March 1. On Friday, March 3, the Warriors will finally be home to host Montverde Academy, in what could possibly be a preview of this year’s district title game.