It took the Whiteoak Wildcats just three games to compete as a varsity program, but then the Whiteoak Wildcats co-ed soccer team made history: The team earned its first varsity boys soccer victory, defeating the Western Latham Indians 5-1 in a home game at Bright Elementary.

The Wildcats won thanks to a hat trick from Abe Flader, who scored three goals in the non-league victory. Tyler Wessner finished the game with two goals, the two of them combining for all five goals.

Kenyon Hughes had two assists and Adrionna Phillips had one.

Flader scored the first goal of the game to give the team an early 1-0 lead. Western scored a goal of its own in the first half to tie the game at 1-1, but from there the Wildcats took a 2-1 lead with a goal on a Wessner penalty.

“It was a great team win. We moved the ball well and played our soccer,” said WHS head coach Adam Schelling.

In the second half, Flader scored two more goals to complete the hat trick, and Wessner scored another goal.

“Western had some great ball handlers and shooters on offense and we challenged our defense to not allow any more goals in the second half,” Schelling said. “Our defense played solid in the second half. Gideon Swingle, Grady Roberts, Cody Richards, Chris Wessner and Jackson Tedford in goal were solid throughout the second half and held them scoreless.”

“Adrionna Phillips and Kenyon Hughes were solid in the midfield and had assists on three goals. The whole team had to play together to win this game. Hopefully this will give us momentum for a tough SHAC matchup against the Eastern Warriors.”

With the win, Whiteoak improves its overall record to 1-2 after being 0-2 in the SHAC.

The day before, Tuesday, August 20, the Wildcats suffered a 6-0 loss to Fayetteville.

Next up for the Wildcats is a non-league game against Portsmouth Clay on Tuesday, August 27th, followed by a SHAC game on the road on Wednesday, August 28th against the Eastern Warriors at 4:30 p.m.