Foothill Falcons dive to defeat against the Trojans

The varsity boys soccer team faced off against the Foothill Falcons and ended with an abrupt 3-0 victory on Dec. 16.

“We came back; we came out strong and came out with intensity. I think the best thing was that we played as a team. We fought together and we never gave up,” said Ian Hsu.

The game was deadlocked throughout the first half. Neither team scored as the ball travelled back and forth across the field. Both teams put up a great defense, forcing shots on the goal to be scarce and far between. Any attempted shots were skillfully blocked by the goalies. 

“My mindset was it’s a must-win game–we have to score, and we have to do good. We came into this game with high communication and high intensity,” said Dominic Bolender.

Much of the second half went the same, but the Trojans were ramping up pressure and keeping the ball near the Falcons’ goal. The Falcons finally caved in around halfway through the second half to a goal by Emilio Gutierrez. Spectators welcomed the goal with cheers as the 0-0 tie was finally broken.

“In the second half, we came out even stronger. We tried getting the ball behind them as they had good defense,” said Hsu. “We had a lot of good crosses, and we were able to finish the goals, and that’s how we were able to adapt.”

Soon after the first goal, Jordan Bravo scored again on the Falcons. This was quickly followed 30 seconds later with another goal by Ali Jandro El Sheikh. In under ten minutes, the Trojans brought the score from 0-0 to 3-0. With 15 minutes left on the clock, the Trojans maintained the high pressure on the Falcons and kept the ball in their favor until they earned their hard-fought victory.

“I think we can improve on just keeping it calm, especially when they have their moments. We need to control those moments and we need to just push through those and stay more calm,” said Bolender. “We proved today that we are still a good team and we are still competing for the win.”

This match brings the Trojans’ overall score to 3-1-1. The varsity boys soccer team will play the Encinal Jets on Dec. 20.