Cookeville High School - Cookeville, Tennessee

Spring Soccer Kicks Into High Gear

Nicole Pullen, Charger Staff

The Cookeville Boys Soccer team is pumped and determined to do well this year. They closed last year’s season by winning districts, but the boys want to go even farther this year.

“We are not as talented individually this year, but we could be a better team if we start playing well together,” says Kent Starkweather, team captain.

So far, they’re off to a good start. The team is currently 7-1-1.

The team recently competed in the Beech Tournament, a weekend-long tournament held in Hendersonville. On the first night, although goalie Tyler Huddleston made some great saves, Cookeville lost a tough game 0-3 to Farragut, one of the top teams in the state. The boys came back the next day to tie Franklin 1-1 with Lu Zanforlin scoring the only goal. That same day, Cookeville defeated Portland 4-2. Roland Borys scored two of the goals.

Cory Boyd and Lu Zanforlin scored the other two. The following day, the boys won again, defeating White House 2-0. Kent Starkweather scored both goals.

The team next also traveled to Nashville to play Overton. With two goals from Starkweather and one from David Epley, the boys won the game 3-1, delivering Overton their first loss of the season. “We have a team with a lot of ability,” says Huddleston.

The boys played an amazing game against Red Bank (who strangely wear blue uniforms).In the first twenty minutes, Starkweather and Zanforlin each scored a goal. Red Bank was rarely near their goal. Although there were few, Huddleston saved all attempts on the goal. Zanforlin scored another goal. Sam Matson, David Epley and Roland Borys also scored goals. Although they had more opportunities to score in the last half of the game, the boys stopped at six goals out of courtesy.

The soccer team traveled to Murfreesboro to play Blackman. The team was victorious with a score of 1-0. Scott Faw scored the only goal.

Cookeville’s district play began April 6. Player Krishna Rao is optimistic. “We have not yet reached our potential yet. Hopefully, after working out some kinks here and there, the teams will bring it together and have success in district play,” he says.