By Justin Hsieh & Karen Phan
This afternoon, the boys’ varsity soccer team played their senior night game against the Kennedy High School Fighting Irish. In a game characterized by high energy, wide movement and many near misses, the boys fell short with a final score of 1-2.
The game opened with the energy and range of movement across the field that would typify the rest of the game. After Kennedy initially gained possession and sent the ball downfield towards the Barons’ goal, seniors Devon Verde and Tyler Le led an offensive attack that drove the ball back into the Irish’s half of the field. The Barons maintained their offensive pressure with further pushes by Verde and Le and a close attempt on goal by senior Austin Pennella from senior Dakota Whitsel’s free kick.
At the ten-minute mark, the tide of the game shifted and Kennedy pressed into Fountain Valley territory. After another nine minutes of movement back and forth across the field, with scrambles at the goal mouth on either side, the Irish broke through the Baron defense and scored the first goal of the game.
“After the first goal went in from a defensive mistake, we lost our good start,” junior Sebastian Rus said.
The rest of the half remained an offensive game for both sides with moves on goal by Verde and senior Omar Shukairy in the 25th and 32nd minutes of the game, respectively. After shots on goal by junior Dylan Duong and sophomore Chris Ouellette in stoppage time, the half closed with the Barons trailing 0-1.
The energy of the first half carried into the second as Le took a shot on goal in the first minute of the game. After trading possessions for the first ten minutes of the half, the Barons secured the initiative for a five minute period with shots on goal by senior Dakota Whitsel and sophomore Masin Marini and multiple corner kicks by Whitsel.
Fountain Valley’s press gave way to a period of possession by Kennedy, initiating the replacement of the first half’s rapid back-and-forth with more prolonged alternating periods of momentum between the teams. Twenty minutes into the half, the Irish scored the second goal of the game with a drive into the Barons’ net.
After another ten minutes of holding back the Irish, who were outrunning the Barons and winning 50/50 tackles, Fountain Valley’s offense broke out again with a shot on goal by Duong in the 33rd minute of the half. Two minutes later, Rus scored the Barons’ first goal of the game off of a blocked shot by Verde.
“We were unfortunate to concede the second goal but we fought back to get the one goal back,” Rus said.
Rus’ goal marked a turning point in the Barons’ intensity, and it appeared as if Fountain Valley might be poised for a comeback. In the last seven minutes of the game, the back-and-forth re-ensued but was dominated by Baron charges up to the Irish net. In both drives from midfield and close skirmishing in the penalty box, Verde, Duong and Rus took multiple shots on goal and faced a string of bare misses and blocks by the Irish. The Barons’ energy remained high until the final whistle with Fountain Valley losing 1-2.
“I’m still confident we can learn from these preseason games and play well in the season games where our record matters,” Rus said. “We need to start off strong because so far this [pre]season, we have had to work from behind because of slow starts.”
The boys’ first game of the season will be on Jan. 3rd at Edison High School at 5 p.m. Their next home game will be on Jan. 8th against Newport Harbor High School at 3 p.m.
