By Justin Hsieh & Karen Phan
After a promising Sunset Conference and California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) run in the 2018-2019 season, the boys’ varsity soccer team is back with even higher hopes for this upcoming year.
“[Our goal is to] win [Sunset] League,” Head Coach Jason Smith said. “We returned practically our whole team, and we fell short by one game last year to win League and we went to the quarterfinals of CIF. We were Division Two last year; now we’re Division One so it’s going to be tougher in playoffs. But we expect to try to win league. We’d be disappointed if we don’t.”
The boys’ preseason performances so far have reflected well on their competitive chances. Despite well-fought but expected losses to highly ranked teams, Santa Ana and JSerra High Schools, the boys won crushing victories against Pacifica and Segerstrom High Schools with final scores of 6-0 and 5-2, respectively.
“During preseason is when we take the most time to find out what positions and formations work best for the team and to fix any of the mistakes we’ve made,” captain senior Devon Verde said. “So far we have made some great plays and are getting better at working together. With each challenge we face, the team is only improving.”
The key to sustaining this improvement and succeeding in the field, says Verde and his co-captain senior Connor Wright, will be maintaining the strong chemistry between players that the team has traditionally prided itself on.
“[Our] strengths would be we have good chemistry and work hard for each other,” Wright said. “I feel like our chances to win League are as high as they could get. The team is always working hard and pushing each other to be better.”
