Oakton boys search for consistency
By Dave Buschenfeldt
The Oakton boys soccer team has struggled to find consistency this season, which has led to a tough year in the loss column. But forgetting the Cougars' overall record, coach T.J. White has been pleased with his team's improvement over the course of the season.“For us, it's been a frustrating season,” White said after a 2-0 loss to Chantilly last Friday. “We try to measure [success] by progress, where we start, where we end. Certainly, we're not as successful as we want to be. We're trying to always have great effort and great attitude. That's our goal right now. If we do, we think better things will happen for us.”
The benefits of Oakton's effort and attitude were apparent on April 29, when the Cougars upset region power Yorktown, 2-0, for their first win of the season. Knocking off one of the region's elite teams was proof of how good the Cougars can be when they're on their game.
“At times we're very good, at times we struggle,” White said. “We're consistently inconsistent. When you're inconsistent, you're going to struggle. If we're inconsistent, then I've got to take a large share of the blame.”
Oakton (1-8-3, 0-5 Concorde District) was scheduled to close out its regular season Tuesday night against Robinson after The Times went to press. White said he was hopeful his team would get its first district win of the season and gain momentum heading into the Concorde District tournament.
“We want to control the things we can control,” he said. “We want to get a shot at the [district] semifinals and we want to try to go to regionals. We want to play as many games as we can.”