Apex visits East Chapel Hill

The boys soccer match between East Chapel Hill (1-0-1) and Apex (1-0-1) has been moved up to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at ECH’s Wildcat Stadium. A JV match at 4:30 p.m. will precede the undefeated varsities.
Apex,  ranked No. 3 in the latest N.C. coaches poll, has a challenging early schedule, playing three top-10 opponents in two weeks. The Cougars came away from No. 7 Leesville Road with a 0-0 draw Aug. 25, will play at No. 10 Chapel Hill (2-0-0) on Sept. 4, and host No. 6 Athens Drive on Sept. 8.
Things don’t get any easier for Apex the following week. The Cougars host No. 2 Green Hope on Sept. 15 and play two days later at No. 8 Panther Creek.
East Chapel Hill should provide a good gauge for Apex, which started its season with an impressive 4-1 win by the Cougars at Millbrook.
East’s Wildcats finished 13-8-3 last fall, good enough for third place in the PAC 6 Conference and a playoff spot, and out-scored opponents 69-30. While the 2008 fall season barely has begun, the signs look good for East. The Wildcats opened their regular season with a 3-1 win on the road against Greenville Rose. The Rampant (one of the great, quirky names in N.C. sports) are coming off a 16-4-2 season in 2007, in which it gave up 27 goals in 22 games.
The Wildcats followed their first win this season with a 1-1 tie at Raleigh Wakefield. Not the best of results, but hardly the worst, either, and coming on the road in the heart of the Cap 7 Conference. (A visitor getting anything out of the Cap 7 in soccer is a bit like taking a road win along Tobacco Road in basketball.)
The Wildcats’ early scoring has gotten a boost from two players who’ve been teammates since their Rainbow Soccer preschool league — Dallas Cederberg and Cristo Briceño. Cederberg scored twice against Rose, with an assist from Briceño, and Briceño assisted Aug. 25 on Kent Rockhill’s goal at Wakefield.
No. 3 Apex is the first of six games for East Chapel Hill against Top-15 opponents this season. That schedule includes a Sept. 15 visit to No. 1 Raleigh Broughton.
-- William Elliott Warnock/The Chapel Hill News