by Yasir Khaleq, Staff Writer
On a day that marked the first of two must-win games for the Barons, a lack of focus dearly cost them as they fell to Huntington Beach for the second time this season.
Coming off a great win against Marina (only their second win of the season), the Barons came out of the gates fast and furious. The boys were winning tackles and passing with purpose, like they were earlier in the season. This peaked in about the fourth minute, when Zachary Young (’17) scored to put his team in prime position to go on put the Oilers to the sword.
The game was also a must win for Huntington Beach, and it was clearly weighing down on them. If the Barons had scored another goal, they most likely would have gone on to win the game.
However, complacency rose and the Oilers began to control the game. They dominated the rest of the half, and they were rewarded with a goal near the end of the first half. The goal was a result of a defensive mistake, similar to the other two that the Oilers would later score.
“I think [the problem] is focus. This is our ninth game, the same four players played defense the whole game. Typically our defense has been pretty strong. Just a lack of focus. Lack of positional discipline. We weren’t consistently poor today. There were a couple slip ups. And when you slip up, you give up goals. Unfortunately, you can’t slip up in this league,” said Jason Smith, varsity head coach.
Going into the second half tied at 1-1, the game was evenly poised, with both teams full of quality and desperate to score. Midway through the second half, defender Ali Shah (’18) sprinted past a Huntington defender, lifting a cross into the box. The keeper could only get a hand on it, falling to forward Ethan Mack (’18), who calmly headed the ball past the goal line. At the time, this seemed to prove that their is great potential in this team, which made their eventual collapse all the more agonizing.
With five minutes left in the second half, it looked as if Fountain Valley had the win locked up after a resilient performance. There was a momentary scare when the referee awarded a penalty to the Oilers, but goalkeeper Slater Krucera (’17) came up with a huge save to preserve Fountain Valley’s 2-1 lead. However, the lack of focus that Smith mentioned fatally sprang up on the Barons.
An excellent through ball from Huntington Beach midfielder Carlos Diaz completely split the Barons’ defense, leaving the forward 1 on 1 with Krucera. All Krucera could do was helplessly watch as the Huntington player emphatically finished at the near post to make it 2-2. This came moments after Fountain Valley midfielder Matthew Ruiz (’18) missed a golden opportunity to put the Barons up 3-1.
“They give us chances, and we didn’t put them away. There were a couple chances to go up 3-1. We’ve gotta put these guys away at that point,” said Smith.
Minutes later, Shah brought down a Huntington player about 30 yards from goal, prompting the referee to give away a free kick. It didn’t seem to be a foul, as the Huntington player theatrically dove to the ground upon the slightest touch from Shah, but that didn’t matter when Luis Hernandez of Huntington Beach spectacularly scored from the ensuing free kick.
This game neatly summarized what has been a frustrating season. Almost every game, the Barons have put in a hard-working performance, only to be met by one moment that costs them the game. A team of this caliber of talent should be earning much better results. So what’s the issue?
“We just need practice,” said Smith.
If the Barons had won this game as well as their game against Newport this Wednesday, they would’ve qualified for CIF playoffs in a wild card position. That’s no longer a possibility, however. That doesn’t mean the game on Wednesday is for nothing.
“We’ve still gotta play on Wednesday. We gotta play 80 minutes, we gotta play a complete game,” said Smith.
