Owen enters NCHSAA 3A Soccer Playoffs as No. 6 seed
Warhorses back in the saddle with opening round bye
Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
November 4, 2025
Owen senior Spencer Woolley leads the No. 6 seed Warhorses with 38 goals. Owen will open the 2025 NCHSAA State Soccer Playoffs at home, Nov. 6, when it hosts a second-round match. Photo by Fred McCormick
A lot can change over the course of a decade in high school soccer. New players, coaches, rivalries and accomplishments have all been part of the recipe for success at Owen, but as the team prepares to begin postseason play, Thursday, Nov. 6, with the game time yet to be announced, one thing has remained consistent.
“When you have the caliber of players we have, and the history our program has, there is a certain standard we have set,” said fourth-year head coach Trei Morrison, who led the team to its first state championship in 2022. “We should be competing for a state championship, year in and year out. That’s our mindset going into every season.”
Following a 12-3-1 regular season performance, Owen, which earned a bye in the opening round of the 2025 NCHSAA 3A State Soccer Playoffs, enters the tournament as a No. 6 seed at home. The contest will mark the sixth straight year in which Warhorse Stadium has hosted at least one postseason soccer match.
The Warhorses entered the season with six seniors on the roster, which includes three juniors and nearly a dozen sophomores. The young team faced challenges, including losses to Brevard and Asheville, early in the campaign, but those non-conference matchups represented a “trial by fire” phase for the program, according to the coach.
“We put them out there, sink or swim, and the lesson they took away from the Brevard game was that they can’t just put the maroon and white on and go out and win,” Morrison said. “They learned the reason we win is because we’re Owen and we have our own standards. Facing that level of competition early in the season helped us focus on what we have to do if we want to be successful.”
While the Warhorses opened with a 4-2 mark against non-conference opponents, they were confronted with another test in the new-look Western Highlands Conference, which added Polk County and Hendersonville prior to the season. A 2-1 loss to the Wolverines in a tightly contested mid-September match represented the first conference loss for Owen since 2019.
“That was a wake-up call for us, and reinforced for our players that we have a legacy to uphold,” Morrison said. “We took the lead early in the game, but mentally and physically, Polk is a very challenging opponent. That moment was important for us, because it showed our guys that just because you play quality or pretty soccer, it doesn’t always win games. You have to have a little steel inside of you.”
Senior Caden Mobley, right, leads the Warhorses with 16 assists and is tied for third on the team with the 7 goals. Photo by Fred McCormick
Led by seniors Spencer Woolley and Caden Mobley, junior Lyle Sulzman and sophomore Boone Ferguson, Owen rediscovered its fortitude, reeling off four straight conference victories in response to the loss. In their rematch on the road against the Wolverines, who enter the postseason as the top seed in the West Region, the Warhorses battled back to a 2-2 draw, following two overtime periods.
“That was a completely different game for us, because we went down there and our players were the ones who were scrappy,” Morrison said. “For us, it was all about improving, and the boys simply refused to lose that match. From that moment on, it changed how our players approach the game.”
The Warhorses did not allow another goal in the last four games of the regular season, outscoring Avery County, Hendersonville, Madison and Mountain Heritage by a combined total of 23-0. The second-half run provided a blueprint for a strong postseason run, according to Morrison.
“We really started getting back to our pressing game, and made it a priority to snuff out attacks in opponents’ defensive half, before they even get started. That takes a lot of work,” he said. “Then, if we lose the ball, it’s our goal to regain possession within six seconds, and that’s one thing to do on a basketball court, but a whole different thing in a soccer match.”
Sustained effort will be a key for Owen, which will deploy a variety of weapons in the playoffs, including Woolley, whose 38 goals leads the program, while midfielders Mobley and Sulzman are multi-faceted facilitators, capable of flipping the field, setting up teammates for scoring opportunities or finding the back of the net.
“Spencer, Caden and Lyle are all excellent leaders,” Morrison said. “They push their teammates, but they make it an enjoyable environment. Spencer and Caden have been with us since the state championship season, and they want to get back, so they have done a great job of looking at past leadership and using aspects they liked and changing things they didn’t.”
Mobley leads the Warhorses with 16 assists, while Sulzman has distributed 15 of his own. Each player notched 7 goals during the regular season, but the duo’s relentless approach to the game, however, is not reflected in the statistics, according to their coach.
“What people don’t necessarily see is how hard they work when we lose the ball,” he said. “Caden’s work rate makes it so hard to express how important he is. And, with him, Lyle and Spencer, they set the standard for the younger guys around them.”
Owen sophomore Boone Ferguson, who scored 11 goals in the regular season, has been a dynamic option for the young team, which will open the state playoffs at home, Nov. 6, as a No. 6 seed. Photo by Fred McCormick
The emergence of Ferguson, a versatile defender whose role has expanded in his second year on the varsity roster, has equipped Owen with a unique threat. Joining Woolley, Mobley and Sulzman as one of four team captain, the “fantastically talented” player, with 11 goals this season, brings an air of calm confidence to the field, according to Morrison.
“Obviously, he’s a defender who does a great job with that cleanup work in the back, but we give him the freedom of making decisions on how or when to join the attack,” he said. “Opponents’ attacking players aren’t going to track our defenders when they move forward, and Boone could easily play any position, so when he finds himself in scoring position, he usually gets a good strike.”
Despite its youthful roster, Owen has found production throughout. Twelve Warhorses have scored goals this season, while 14 players have recorded assists. That experience, according to the Morrison, will be valuable in the postseason.
“We’ve been getting good opportunities and goals from players like Keegan Barry, Charles Reyes Machado and Jasper Sterley, who are all sophomores,” he said. “It’s a priority to keep all the players involved, because when teams try to shut down what they perceive as our main threats, we have other guys who can step up. We’re not limited to one or two guys, we can hit teams across the board.”
The Warhorses will await the winner of the first-round match between No. 11 Thomasville and No. 22 Mountain Heritage, but as they prepare for their playoff debut, the approach remains the same regardless of their opponent.
“We’re not looking at the names on paper, because our focus is on maintaining our standards and realizing each game is just another game in our season,” Morrison said. “For us, it’s all about recognizing our quality, knowing we’ve been there before and always being aware of what it takes to get where we want to go.”