Due to COVID-19, many seasons for various sports were cut short, including boys soccer. To commemorate its season, which was full of many ups and downs, here are some of the highlights from its District 6-6A season.

In its first District 6-6A home match on Jan. 28 at Buddy Echols Field, the Coppell boys soccer team fell to Lewisville Hebron, 3-1. During the first half of the match, limited results were produced. In the 32nd minute, the Hawks scored a goal and within minutes after, the Cowboys came back with a goal in the 38th minute. However, in the second half, Hebron came back with two more goals in the 62nd and 77th minute, making the score 3-1. Moving forward with the season, the team planned on increasing communication and the motivation on and off the field.

During the second District 6-6A home match on Jan. 31 at Buddy Echols Field, the Cowboys tied with Lewisville, 0-0. At the time, Lewisville was in second place in district standings. A key difference between this match and the first was that the team improved its communication as it showed in its energy in the second half of the match. Though the communication was a little spotty at the beginning, they were able to pick it up quickly.

“I felt like we had the game in control at Hebron, just three letdowns and good players taking advantage of that,” Coppell coach James Balcom said. “We did a much better job of that tonight, limiting those mental mistakes, and we got the clean sheet. We created some opportunities late, so we’ve got to be better all 80 minutes.”

Following a tie with Lewisville in its last home match, the Cowboys were unsuccessful in breaking its winless streak. It fell 2-1 to Irving on Feb. 7 at Buddy Echols Field. After dominating the field for the majority of the first half, Irving scored its first goal during its final minutes. Coppell’s energy remained high in the second half of the match and it was able to make offensive opportunities. However, Irving scored its second goal in the 12th minute of the second half, making the score 2-0. With 30 seconds left in the match, Coppell scored to end the night, 2-1.

In their fourth District 6-6A match on Feb. 18, the Cowboys lost, 3-2, to Irving Nimitz. At the beginning of the match, Coppell was able to get a 2-0 lead. One came from freshman midfielder Nicolas Radicic with an assist from senior midfielder Caleb Razo and the other off a header from senior defender MJ Fleeks with an assist from sophomore defender Walker Stone. However, Three goals from Nimitz’s Miguel Landeros lifted Nimitz over the Cowboys.

Going into its fifth District 6-6A home match with a 1-4-2 record, the Cowboys did not expect to be in this position - sitting at second to last place in District 6-6A standings. The match against Irving MacArthur on Feb. 21 at Buddy Echols Field brought Coppell its first win and an opportunity to turn the season back around. It went into the first half with a slightly different formation (3-5-2), which left the team unstable; however, when it went back to its original formation, the match changed. With 30 minutes remaining in the match, Coppell senior midfielder Sebastian Blaas scored a penalty kick. Later, with 16 minutes left, Coppell senior midfielder Caleb Razo scored. A MacArthur goal in the last 30 seconds of the match was not enough to save it from a 2-1 loss to the Cowboys.

In its second to last home match of the season due to COVID-19, Coppell turned its season around with a 2-1 win against the No. 1 ranked team in Texas: Flower Mound Marcus. After Coppell tied up the match 1-1, senior striker Tom Vazhekatt leaped above the defenders and hit the back of the net with a header off a cross by Coppell freshman forward Preston Taylor. Since the beginning of the second half of the district season, Coppell was able to go from second to last to third place in District 6-6A with four consecutive wins.