by Yasir Khaleq, staff writer
Boys soccer got off to the best start possible in league play on Wednesday with a dominating offensive and defensive display against reigning Sunset League champions Los Alamitos.
“We knew that it’s gonna be a tough game so we knew that we had to step up for this game. We competed, we were very disciplined today, we played very well defensively, we took our chances,” said Jason Smith, head varsity coach.
Los Al went into the game ranked number three in Orange County, full of confidence and expected by many to win the game (considering they beat the Barons twice last year). The game didn’t start that well for the Barons. Los Al had a few chances early and looked likely to score. However, the Barons defended resolutely and kept the fiery Los Al offense out.
Fountain Valley took over the rest of the half, creating chances and shutting down Los Al’s forwards. The midfield was overrun by the Barons, making incisive runs and winning every ball. The Barons created plenty of chances but just couldn’t find the finishing touch. Nevertheless, going into half time, Fountain Valley had the clear upper hand.
“We assigned a person to each defender, and that worked out really well. Within the first ten minutes we learned our man, and we locked them down,” said defender Ali Shah (’18).
The Baron’s aggressive play was due in part to the mentality Smith pounded into his players’ heads before the game and at half. His message: The Barons are fierce players, keep going at them, don’t let up.
Going off of this tough playing style, the Barons got their goal soon into the second half. Ethan Mack (’18) picked up a loose ball from outside the penalty area and rifled it on goal. The goalkeeper was able to get a hand to it, but it bounced to varsity captain Zachary Young (’17) who made no mistakes with his finish to put Fountain Valley up 1-0.
From then on it was all Fountain Valley. Los Al were toothless in attack.
After several chances, Mack was sent through on goal, but was unable to beat the keeper. His shot ricocheted to Andre Nguyen (’19), who evaded a few defenders and passed it back to Mack. He perfectly placed the ball out of the goalkeeper’s reach to seal the game for the Barons with about 20 minutes left. This goal nicely summed up the Barons’ quality play throughout the game.
“Honestly the whole team played amazing today. Probably the best game I’ve ever seen us play,” said Young. “This is the first time we’ve beaten them in like 5 years or something. We knew they were gonna be a strong team but we found their weak links and just kept going at them.”
The never-say-die performance was full of guile and skill, which is something to look forward to this season.
“I think [beating Los Al] says a lot for our guys. We knew we had a good team, we knew we could play with anybody. It’s just a matter of stepping up in our first league game at home, protecting our turf. It was a great game. Collectively, everyone played well today. It was a well-deserved win for us,” said Smith.
With this 2-0 win, the Barons are off to a dream start in Sunset League. By convincingly beating a team of such stature in dominating fashion, Fountain Valley is sending a statement to the rest of the league. This year, the Barons want the Sunset League title.
“We’ve got a lot of confidence now. Next we’ve got Edison, and we’ve got confidence going into that game,” said Smith.
