Houston Area HS Boys Team to Watch: Cy Woods

<p>The high school soccer season is back in Texas as since the middle of December, teams from the Lone Star State have been active in scrimmages and non-district matches as they prepare for the start of the matches.</p>   <p>There's a lot of fine-tuning to be done between now and the start of January, when district matches will begin, and we at Prep Soccer Texas are excited to follow another season of play and report on the top teams and individual standouts in our state.</p>   <p>As we prepare for the start of what should be another exciting four months of high school soccer in Texas, we'll feature some teams from the Houston area that could be poised for strong seasons.</p>   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Cy Woods</h2>   <p>The Cy Woods Wildcats from Cypress had a remarkable campaign last season, emerging from a fourth-place finish in District 16 to produce a strong playoff run, which only ended in the Regional Finals, against state runners-up Duncanville. Some key players that helped the team obtain a 17-5-1 season record graduated, such as goalkeeper Zac Cannon, defender Hayden Richards, midfielders Jairo Contreras, Nathan Lafleur and Ryan Dahl and forward Marcos Scalzo. This season, the Wildcats will have a new core, with senior Diego Gradvohl in goal, seniors Ethan Carmichael and Giancarlo Salazar and sophomore Emiliano Irazoqui manning the backline, senior Santiago Lujan and sophomore Nicolas Rodriguez appearing in midfield and juniors Roberto Paredes and [player_tooltip player_id='16029' first='Denny' last='Todic'] leading the offense.</p>   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Key Players</h2>    <p class="text-gray-700">Capable of playing as an outside back on the right and the left, as well as in midfield, Carmichael brings consistency and efficiency to the field with Cy Woods. An athletic player, he is very good when defending 1v1 in wide positions and can handle even the most dynamic and skilled wingers. Carmichael also thrives by reading plays and intercepting passes, often immediately turning defense into offense with quick, direct passes to the forwards. He also does a good job offensively, consistently pushing forward and offering passing options to his teammates. Instead of pushing it to the end line, Carmichael prefers to operate a little bit deeper, from where he can feed the forwards with long crosses and diagonal passes.</p>      <p class="text-gray-700">A tall and skilled center back, Irazoqui won the starting spot in the Cy Woods' backline as a freshman and should be able to deliver even more in his second year with the team. He uses his size well to win duels and dominate in the air, but is also extremely mobile, doing a solid job when he has to defend in wider positions or around the midfield. A very strong tackler, Irazoqui times his defensive actions very well and very rarely doesn't get a touch on the ball when he goes for a play. The center back also has a nice passing range and is typically very calm in possession, finding good passing options out of the back.</p>      <p class="text-gray-700">A physical and talented forward, Todic has been a key player up top for Cy Woods since his freshman season. He thrives when operating as a target striker, getting on the end of crosses and getting the ball with his back to goal to either make turns on defenders or combine with his teammates. Todic manages to combine solid technical skills with his physical game, having success with his dribbling and passing, and helping his team create chances. He's a lethal finisher, who knows his way inside the penalty box and doesn't need much space or time on the ball to finish chances and find the back of the net.</p>

The high school soccer season is back in Texas as since the middle of December, teams from the Lone Star State have been active in scrimmages and non-district matches as they prepare for the start of the matches.