By Tyler Sonderholzer
On Friday, the varsity boys’ soccer team lost to the Edison Chargers 0-1 in the second overtime.
“Our expectation was to take away their sixth title in a row,” senior Masin Marini said, “And make it a little harder for them to win their next two games.”
The first half had the Barons primarily on defense as the Chargers had most of the ball possession. However, the Chargers were plagued by three offside calls in the first five minutes which prevented them from scoring and giving the ball to the Barons.
However, the Chargers were still able to have plenty of scoring chances on free kicks and corner kicks, which were mainly blocked by the Baron defense.
Junior goalie Austin Quach also made several great saves including a save on a breakaway and on back-to-back shots to keep the score 0-0.
The Barons had only two big scoring chances in the first half on a free-kick and a shot from well out by sophomore Micah Yanez.
The first half ended shortly after with the game tied 0-0.
“The first half wasn’t in our favor,” Marini said, “we had a lot of mistakes and luckily, it was still 0-0 at the half.”
Shortly after the start of the second half, junior Ethan Larsson fouled a Charger just outside the box which gave the Chargers a good scoring chance. However, the goal was saved by Quach; he then went out for a corner kick, which he also saved.
The Barons had more possession in the second half in comparison to the first half. They had several scoring chances including a shot from senior Alan Villegas and a sequence where three shots from the Baron offense were either saved or blocked.
The second half continued with the Baron offensive only getting stronger as opposed to their defensive first half. They had a few more scoring chances such as a corner kick from Villegas which was just punched over the bar for a corner kick.
The last ten minutes of the second half were back and forth with both teams trading scoring chances. Ultimately, neither side scored and the game remained tied 0-0.
As they went into overtime, the Chargers mainly had possession of the ball and had plenty of scoring chances but the Baron defense held firm. As a result, the scoreboard remained 0-0 and forced the game to go into a second overtime. However, with two minutes to go in the second overtime, the Chargers scored after the ball squeezed past the Baron defense and a Charger put the ball in the net to win the game 0-1.
“We are gritty, and we defend well as an entire unit, “ assistant coach Jonathan Lloyd said. “Our goalie came up with some pretty big saves.”
The Barons are now 0-4-1 in the Sunset Surf League and 2-8-4 overall. Their next home game is an away game on Jan. 31 at 6 p.m. against the Los Alamitos Griffins.
