“(Wildcats coach Matt Corley) emphasizes that I use my speed a lot,” Meki says.
Meki’s speed proved to be the difference in the Wildcats’ season opener Thursday afternoon. He maneuvered his away around three Pflugerville defenders for a 70-yard breakaway goal that provided the only score in Temple’s 1-0 victory at Woodson Field on the first day of the Wildcat Kickoff Classic.
Temple continues play in its home tournament at 8 a.m. today against Brenham’s “B” team and at 4 p.m. against Houston Stratford, with both games at Woodson. The top six teams in the tournament’s point standings in the 16-team field advance to Saturday’s matches.
Thursday’s opener went about as expected. The Wildcats had stretches of solid play but made just enough mistakes to show just how young this team is. Temple’s opening-day roster had only seven varsity returners from last year’s senior-laden team.
“It’s a win,” Corley said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s ugly or pretty. It’s a win, so we’ll take it.”
Temple’s lone goal was the highlight of a first half during which it controlled the speed and the tempo.
Meki missed a chance to get the Wildcats on the board earlier in the first half. He was knocked down in the penalty box and received a penalty kick, but it was deflected away to preserve the scoreless tie.
After a Pflugerville scoring attempt was thwarted in the 29th minute, Meki got loose from a group of Panther midfielders. He simply used his speed after that to hold off a trio of defenders and used a quick move to take the goalkeeper out of the play.
That left Meki with a tap-in goal for a 1-0 advantage.
“I thought it was a great goal,” Corley said. “It was just a great individual effort.”
Said Meki: “I kind of felt guilty after missing the (penalty kick), so I felt like I really had to score to boost everybody up and myself, too.”
The Wildcats spent most of the game’s final 20 minutes on the defensive. Two of Pflugerville’s best chances ended with an offside call and a header that sailed wide left of goalkeeper Brandon Stegmeyer.
Corley said the heat of a 75-degree afternoon simply got to his team in what he termed a “lack of good play” in the second half.
“The heat kind of got to the fitness and we just got tired and started making mental mistakes,” he said. “They’re smart kids, they’ll learn and we’ll get through it."
rschneider@temple-telegram.com
