By Tyler Sonderholzer
On Friday, the varsity boys’ soccer team tied their third preseason game against the Trabuco Hills Mustangs 1-1.
“We improved in several facets of the game,” assistant coach Jonathan Lloyd said. “Our defense handled the pressure better, handled balls over the top better and the goalie came up with some big saves.”
The first half of the game was back-and-forth with no team having clear offensive zone time. Senior John Pham made good defensive plays to clear the ball out of play and to break up several scoring chances by the Mustangs.
“The goal for today’s game was to get a fair result,” senior Masin Marini said. “We heard that they have been getting good results from good teams so we wanted to show we are up there at their level.”
The Mustangs scored shortly after but the goal was declared invalid due to the play being offside.
Junior Ethan Larsson had good ball control and went for a good scoring chance but was blocked. Marini pushed the ball downfield and attempted to cross the ball into the 16-yard box, but the shot had too much power and went out of bounds. Another shot by Larsson, after a good pass from senior Alan Villegas and Villegas had a great shot of his own from well outside the box but it was punched away by the Mustang goalkeeper.
The Barons kept the ball in the offensive zone and kept attempting to score until the Mustangs led a counter-attack and scored on a through ball to lead 0-1.
The first half ended shortly after with the only miscue by the Barons being a turnover in the defensive zone that the Mustangs were unable to capitalize on.
The second half started out slow as both sides could not get anything started and were plagued by offside calls that ruined scoring chances.
Another Baron turnover almost resulted in a goal but Quach made the first of three great saves in the half to keep it a one-goal game.
The Mustangs were able to control most of the possession and took advantage of fouls committed by the Barons but were unable to get solid scoring chances.
Just before the game ended, senior Marcus Edsell attempted to tie the game after a pass from junior Daniel Oakes but the shot went wide. The Barons got a second chance when Marini was able to get past the Mustang and successfully score, tying the game 1-1. The game ended with no further scores from either team.
“I think today’s game was good,” Larsson said. “They [were] a really difficult team but I think we started off shaky but we really powered through the second half.”
The Barons’ preseason record is now 1-1 and their next game will be on Monday, Dec. 13 at 3 p.m. at Fountain Valley High School against Santa Ana Valley High School.
