Catawba Ridge soccer ‘family’ off to strong start in 2021 season

The Catawba Ridge Copperheads are off to a great start in the 2020-21 boys’ soccer season. They are 11-0-2 overall and 4-0 in region play.

The Copperheads have a veteran lineup, and that is paying huge dividends thus far.

Head coach Phillip McCarter, who is in his second year at the helm after coaching two seasons at Fort Mill, is very pleased with a lot of things about this year’s team.

“We are getting excellent leadership. They help me take care of the little things that make a team great,” said McCarter. “Also, we have improved as a team every time we practice or play,”

He added: “This team is very close, and they believe in each other. We had the family concept last year, and it has carried over into this season.”

Catawba Ridge has region wins thus far over York, South Pointe, Lancaster and Indian Land. That puts them at the top of the region in the early going.

The excellent start also includes wins over 5A teams in Rock Hill, Fort Mill, Nation Ford and Clover.

“Last year we had our season cut short, and our players felt like we were going to have a good year,” he said. “They came back this year very motivated to have a good season and prove that they could build a solid program.”

Meet the Catawba Ridge soccer team

The Catawba Ridge offense has been explosive this season. Seniors Nate Clark, Dalton Bailey and Dylan Dority; junior Derek Ringnalda; and sophomores Joshua White and Caden Tull have gotten in the scoring act for Catawba Ridge.

“We have had different players step up all year long and score goals for us, and we have had multiple players score in games,” added McCarter. ‘We have not relied on just one player. That makes us more diverse offensively, and it makes us much harder to defend.”

The defense has been spearheaded by four senior players: They are Ben Hudgins, Ayden McCarter, Bryce Hargraves and Ian Madsen.

“The defense has stepped it up,” he added. That is what people talk about the most when they talk about our team.”

The statistics reflect that: In 13 matches thus far the Copperheads defense has turned in eight shutouts. They also have four other matches in which they allowed only one goal. In region play, they have three shutouts and one match where they allowed only one goal.

Andrew Reinhardt has been the top goalkeeper thus far, but junior Matthew Carylon and senior Antonio Pantigoso have each seen some time in the net to give the Copperheads some depth at the position.

“I am very pleased with the way we are able to get a lot of players in the matches to get experience for later this year as well as build quality depth.” added McCarter. “The offense is getting better as we go, and the defense has played beyond expectations.”

While the team has done extremely well thus far, McCarter is not finished with the building process of this year’s squad.

“We need to continue improving,” he said. “We need to continue building depth. Getting as many players in games as possible will do that. You never know when you might need a backup player to come in and contribute.”

As the Copperheads look to the rest of the season, they need to stay focused on their goal and not on what they have done thus far, he said.

“We need to stay focused,” added McCarter. “We need to play consistently and get better every day.”