Salisbury head coach Matt Parrish
Photo Credit: Sean Meyers
By Mike London
Salisbury Post
SALISBURY —The job of a striker is to score goals, and Salisbury’s Abdul Eliwa performed that task about as well as it can be done during the 2025 season.
The South Piedmont Conference Offensive Player of the Year and the Post’s Rowan County Player of the Year, the slim senior scored often, scored early and scored late. He scored with his right foot, scored with his left foot and scored with his head.
Eliwa totaled 35 goals and nine assists. He scored three goals in the playoffs. He racked up 23 goals in the Hornets’ 14 SPC games.
“The competition in our league was very good,” Eliwa said. “Every goal meant something. They all mattered.”
Named an All-State player by the North Carolina Coaches Association, Eliwa was making a comeback as a senior. He starred for the Hornets as a freshman and sophomore in their days in the 1A/2A Central Carolina Conference. He focused exclusively on high-level club soccer as a junior, but he returned to coach Matt Parrish, assistant coach Landon Goodman and the Hornets for his senior season.
Eliwa returned with an even broader set of skills than he had shown earlier in his career.
“He incorporated an aerial game and was able to finish set pieces with headers,” Parrish said. “He’s quick, he’s fast, he’s twitchy, and he’s equally lethal with either foot. He’s a natural scorer. We never allow our guys to inflate their goal totals. He didn’t score any unnecessary goals.”
South Piedmont Conference champion Salisbury (17-1-5, 12-0-2) stayed undefeated a long time. Salisbury had an All-State goalkeeper in Finnegan Avery and a string of all-region players across the back, and it had Eliwa to provided a lot of the offense. He was credited with eight game-winning goals and performed several successful rescue missions when it looked like the Hornets might taste their first defeat.
“Concord and Robinson were the toughest teams in our league,” Eliwa said. “Both of those teams, the first time we played them, I was able to score a goal that allowed us to get a draw.”
The Eliwas came to Salisbury from Egypt. Mohamed Eliwa, Abdul’s father, played professionally in Egypt and has coached at North Rowan and Salisbury Academy.
“My father played at a very high level, so I was out there playing rec ball when I was 3 or 4 years old,” Eliwa said. “I played a lot of club ball, Lake Norman, Charlotte, always working my way up, until I was playing at the highest level.”
Eliwa enjoyed some terrific moments during his high school career, including a five-goal game as a freshman and CCC Offensive Player of the Year honors as a sophomore, but he had a special feeling about his senior year.
“From that first workout, from the first practice and right up until our last game, it was a fun team to be a part of,” Eliwa said. “I was looked to for leadership, as well as goal-scoring, and that’s a great feeling. I knew it was going to be my year.”
Eliwa had a hat trick in a 5-3 win against Carson and two goals and two assists in a 4-0 victory in the rematch. He scored all three goals in a 3-0 win against South Rowan. He scored four goals in a 5-2 win against a much improved East Rowan squad that challenged the Hornets in the second half. It was 3-2 before Eliwa scored his last two goals to put the match away.
“There were double-teams and there were triple-teams, but my speed makes it hard for defenders to keep up with me,” Eliwa said. “And I’ve worked hard on my finishing skills.”
No one was arguing. He scored goals from angles and from places on the field where not many players even think about scoring.
Teams frequently resorted to the tactic of fouling him and getting physical with him.
“Teams went for the ankles and the knees right away,” Eliwa said.
Parrish counted 11 fouls that Bandys committed against Eliwa in Salisbury’s first playoff game. One of them resulted in a hip injury that slowed down Eliwa for the third-round overtime loss to Lincoln Charter. He still scored what was probably his finest goal of the year in that match, an improbable, long-distance free kick that gave the Hornets a 2-1 halftime lead.
“I don’t even practice free kicks,” Eliwa said. “But I took that one. I knew we needed it.”
Eliwa was the Rowan-Salisbury Schools Male Athlete of the Month for August/September. That’s an award sponsored by Randy Marion Automotive and includes all sports.
He finished his SHS career with 78 goals. The only regret he has about not playing his junior season for Salisbury is that he easily could have reached the 100-goal milestone for the Hornets. His place in program history is secure, but it could have been larger.
Eliwa plans to pursue a medical career as hard as he has pursued game-winning goals. Soccer has given him a fascination for science, for human physiology, for how the body moves and for how it heals.
His ultimate goal is to make healthcare more accessible in underserved communities.
College soccer will be next for Eliwa, but he’s got some decisions to make in the months ahead.
“I’ve gotten some Division II offers, but it probably will be a late decision as far as which school it will be,” he said. “All I know for certain now is it will be a four-year school and I’ll be majoring in biology.”
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Parrish, who was coaching the Salisbury boys for the final time this season, is the Post’s Coach of the Year. The Hornets were 8-0 in the county and went unbeaten, with two ties, in the SPC.
It was a special season for East Rowan, as well. The Mustangs accomplished unprecedented things under coach Nermiz Hodzic, breaking the school record for victories and winning a playoff game (on the road) for the first time.
Lauren West coached Carson to a 5-3 record in county games, including two wins against East.
South Rowan and North Rowan also made the playoffs, and the Raiders won their first-round game.
•••
The All-Rowan County team is based on recommendations by county coaches/ADs. The Post designated the number of players from each team. Salisbury had nine all-conference players, but some of the Rowan schools did not fare well in the All-SPC voting.
All-Rowan County
Salisbury (9) — Finnegan Avery (All-State), Abdul Eliwa (All-State), Raymond Moscoso, Fletcher Busby, Sam Goodman, Lucas Webb, Mohammed Jabateh, Johnathan Barrera, Kevin Reyes
Carson (5) — Jon Pendleton, Carson Kirk, Carlos Moctezuma, Julio Moctezuma, Wyatt Cornelius
East (5) — Noah Dillon, Patrick Sanchez, Matthew Avalos, Gates Brady, Moises Cornelio
South (4) — Carlos Landaverde (All-State), Alex Morales, Johan Nieto Sanchez, Aiden Medina Rivas
North Rowan (3) — Jared Tenorio, Chris Sanchez, Eli Funez
West Rowan (2) — Vamala Jabateh, Nathan Freeman
Player of the Year — Eliwa, Salisbury
Goalkeeper of the Year — Avery, Salisbury
Coach of the Year — Matt Parrish, Salisbury
