Tigers defeat Westfall on senior night for MHS boys soccer

The McClain boys varsity soccer team closed out their regular season with a 4-1 senior-night victory over visiting Westfall Wednesday night.

Senior captain Westley Smith scored three goals (hat trick) for a second straight game, and Seth Weller, another senior, scored the other goal for McClain.

It also was a huge momentum catalyst for the Tigers heading into Monday’s tournament play-in game against Waverly on McClain Field starting at 6 p.m.

“This was a great win for us on senior night and two straight wins against a pair of teams that have really improved throughout season,” McClain head coach Nick McNeal said. “In our last game against Fairfield, they kept us on our toes and gave us a really good game, so I think that helped us have a better performance in this game against Westfall.

“Every one of our seniors played really well tonight, and they all stepped it up and played hard for each other as did all of our underclassmen.

“Back-to-back hat tricks for Westley (Smith) was special, and he said he’s going for the hat trick of hat tricks Thursday against Waverly. We’ll see if he can pull it off,” continued McNeal.

The Tigers were without starting goalkeeper Ethan Hill — another senior, who was out with an injury — but sophomore Brynnen Babbs took his spot and did a really nice job by giving up just the one goal.

“A kid that really stood out in this game was Brynnen Babbs, who stepped in to be our keeper tonight, and I thought he made two really big saves and did a fantastic job for us,” McNeal said. “Waverly is a team that has probably played one of the toughest schedules in our district. They play a lot of really good teams and they’re in a very strong league.

“So, they are a team that you really don’t want to underestimate because of their record. All of their losses have been to really good teams.”