The Wright City boys soccer team opened up their season at home on Aug. 3 against Winfield. The Wildcats lost 3-0 and Head Coach Eric Deal left with one big key takeaway from the game– the team needs to finish on offensive opportunities.

In the first half, Winfield scored 16 minutes into the game and tallied another goal 18 minutes later, with about eight minutes left in the first half. The Wildcats had four shots on goal. In the second half, Winfield scored again with 12 minutes remaining on the clock.

Wright City had a few more opportunities at goal, but were unable to capitalize. Wildcats goalkeeper Drew Elsenrath had eight saves in the first half and six in the second.

Deal noted that it does not matter if the defense is doing amazing or shuts a team out if they cannot score. He said the focus will be to get more shots on goal.

“The difference is they had two opportunities [in the first half] and finished them and we had probably four or five, but we missed all of them,” Deal said.

The Wildcats set up in a 4-4-2 formation, something the team is still getting used to.

“We talked through it a little bit and who to look for, so I think as the season goes, they’ll start getting a little more used to it,” Deal said.

The team will play again on Sept. 9 and until then Deal said the focus in practice will be “scoring, scoring and scoring.”

“It’s just getting the right pass, that attacking pass and then having that urgency to get on the ball and pull the trigger to shoot,” Deal said.