MATTHEWS, N.C. - Self-sacrifice, or simply put, “we before me,” will be the motto for Christ School varsity soccer this season.
No one embodied it more than Collier Lilly ‘25 on Wednesday.
The Greenies’ backup goalkeeper from last year sees himself as more of an outfield player but is back in goal for the time being due to an injury to starter Felix Huebner ‘26.
Collier made all the correct reads in a 1-0 overtime shutout at Carmel Christian – included in the junior’s three saves were a couple in which he was one-on-on with a Cougars player due to a breakdown in the Greenies defense.
“One of them was at the end (of regulation), a goal there would have been heartbreaking,” Coach Guy Campbell ’00 said.
“Collier was unbelievable, he really deserves a lot of the credit. The big thing for us is we lost seven of our eight games by a goal (in 2022), so it’s finding ways to win games. Using our experience and team chemistry to go out there and do that. And a result like this just means the boys are getting to where we want them to be as a coaching staff.”
The first-ever varsity goal for sophomore Clayton Butler ’26 was golden, coming in the second overtime. The Greenies (1-0) had the advantage in shots by a 10-4 count.
Carmel (0-1) was last year’s NCISAA 4-A state runner-up and Wednesday was just the Cougars’ second regular-season loss in two years. Coach Campbell also singled out George Robbins ’24 and Mason Atwater ’24 for their play in the shutout.
“The experience of the returning boys really showed in the second half,” Coach Campbell said.
“We didn’t create a whole lot of opportunities in the first half. But the boys took what we asked them to do at halftime and really went out and did a great job. Clayton was having a tremendous amount of success exposing his man and scored on an individual play.”
The varsity team plays its first home game Friday at 5 p.m. against Charlotte Latin. All of this season’s home games will be streamed live at https://events.locallive.tv/school/christ-school.
JV Greenies 2, Carmel Christian 0
Sam Farago ’26 and Jacob Jordan ’26 scored goals for the JV Greenies in their shutout win Wednesday with assists going to Dominic Rose ’28 and Michael Pollick ’26.