Only seven games into the 2025 season, Davie Men’s Soccer has already won as many matches as they managed across the entirety of their previous season. This is a strong start for the War Eagles whose men’s soccer team has historically faced strong competition from teams both in and out of their conference. In fact, the last time men’s soccer has managed more than four wins in a season was 2013, with the most recent winning season being 2011 where they secured an overall record of 13-6-5 with five of those wins in conference play.
Coming off a loss to Surry Central on August 14, the War Eagles bounced back against Lake Norman Charter with a 1-1 tie. From these early setbacks, the team rallied to a four-game winning streak against West Rowan, East Davidson, North Davidson, and Surry Central. Three of the four games took place at home under blue skies and ideal conditions. As senior Isaiah Beaty noted, though, there was only one thing missing: students. Even with the lack of student support, though, the team played like everyone was watching.
“I’d say it honestly makes us work harder,” Beaty said.”We’re actually trying to get to a point where we could have student support and so you know we just play harder and just have more fun, cause we’re trying to get people to come.”
If the team’s performance in these opening match-ups is any indication, they may be well on their way to creating a buzz to fill up the student section. In each game, the team scores a little over three goals per game, a testament to their combined effort and team dynamic. This effort is present in every line of the team, especially since almost every player plays more than one position on the field. Every forward on the team plays midfield at some point depending on what is needed. A standout within the forwards is junior Hunter Stephens who is the team leader in steals overall. He is also one of the players who takes most of the penalty kicks and corner kicks because of his ability to kick the ball a far distance and get it up in the air.
Among the midfielders, senior Justin Rayas has stood out consistently in the season’s opening match-ups. Rayas has been the team’s top scorer this season, including scoring three out of the four Davie goals in their game against East Davidson and being second overall on the team in points scored and shots overall.
Fellow midfielder Ethan Christie (a junior) holds similarly impressive distinctions. He currently ranks first in shots overall and assists per match for the team. On top of this, he also ranks first in assists for the North Piedmont 6A/7A conference. Christie says he plans to be the first in the state for assists by the end of the season.
Sophomore Kellan Wiles, despite being one of the youngest on the team, holds second place with Rayas for points scored and shots overall. He is in second for goals per match behind Rayas with an average of 1.0. Last year, Wiles was given a piece of mentorship that has changed his game for the better by one of the graduated players, Filipe Flores, who told him, “When you have confidence in yourself, you can do whatever you like.”
“There will be days where I am down on myself and you can see it in my performance, and when I’m confident with my gameplay it’s the same way,” Wiles said when reflecting on how the advice affected him this season. This advice and his overall confidence in the game were shown on Tuesday, September 9, against Surry Central, a team that they had previously lost to. Wiles ended up scoring one of the four goals that night, with Christie scoring two and junior Hector Rodriguez Vasquez scoring another. This brought the final score of the night to 4-0, adding another notch in their winning streak.
