by Yasir Khaleq, staff writer
The Barons had plenty of opportunities on Friday, but failed to score for the third game in a row against a beatable Huntington Beach team. They conceded two goals themselves, leading to the second loss in three games.
The game was cagey at the beginning, and that wouldn’t change for the most part. The Oilers continuously frustrated the Barons’ attempts to play the ball forward with physical play and solid defense. Occasionally they would counter attack after a spell of Fountain Valley possession.
This set the tone for the rest of the game, and the Oilers soon scored. A quick counter attack caught the Barons’ defense out, and a quick ball across the penalty area was slid under Fountain Valley goalkeeper Slater Krucera (’17) into the back of the net.
The only clear cut chance the Barons had was a hopeful shot from defender Ali Shah (’18) from about 30 yards out, which the Huntington Beach goalkeeper pushed onto the crossbar. Other than that, Fountain Valley struggled to break down the tough Huntington defense. There was plenty of opportunity, but never a threat of scoring.
“We’re getting a ton of opportunities offensively and we have guys getting in good positions, just not coming away with the outcome we need. I don’t think we’re being aggressive enough, taking enough shots, or making that final pass that’s even more dangerous,” said Ryan Brown, assistant varsity head coach.
For the rest of the first half, the Barons couldn’t find an offensive spark, and the score at halftime was 1-0 to the Oilers. This was despite Fountain Valley spending plenty of time in the opposition half, and looking dangerous the whole time. That’s an issue that’s been plaguing the soccer team ever since their brilliant win over Los Al at the beginning of the season.
“We’re certainly getting in positions where we need to be finishing but we’re not finishing. So we’re really gonna need to start working on our finishing in dangerous areas. We’re getting opportunities, but we’re not getting goals,” said Brown.
The game opened up in the second half, but Huntington Beach continued to frustrate the Barons’ attack. Due to the lax officiating of the game, the HB defense was extremely physical, crossing the line several times with no punishment. That doesn’t excuse the poor attacking display from Fountain Valley, however.
Passing play between Fountain Valley’s players was almost non-existent, with the attacking play consisting of endless attempts to play the ball wide and cross it into the box, producing no results. Coach Brown noticed this too.
“We’ve gotta start playing to each other’s feet, and we gotta do some finishing. We had some great opportunities to score, and we just didn’t get the right shot off. Technical skills, technical training, and finishing is gonna be the recipe to beat Newport on wednesday,” said Brown.
Chasing the equalizer late in the game, Fountain Valley was vulnerable in defense. The Oilers took full advantage of this, scoring on another counter attack with 3 minutes left to play.
This loss means that Fountain Valley is 1-1-2 going into their fifth game of the season. Despite the recent poor performances, there’s still confidence that there is potential for a good season.
“We’re sitting in an okay spot, but obviously we’d like to be doing better. We still get to play everybody again, and we’re not even through the first half of league. We’re not hitting the panic button, whatsoever,” said Brown.
