By Jonathan Tran
On Wednesday, Dec. 7, the boys’ varsity soccer team went up against the Long Beach Poly Jackrabbits in a fierce match, suffering their third loss this preseason. With a finishing score of 1-2, the Barons fought hard every step and made the match from start to end extremely close. The overall record this preseason is 1-3.
Standout players included senior goalkeeper Adam Guillen, junior Noah Baldree and junior Micah Yanez, who netted the team’s only goal.
“Our goalkeepers, Noah Baldree and Myles Ponce did really well this game,” senior Ethan Larsson said. “They kept the ball moving forward.”
The game started off quickly. Two minutes in, one of the Jackrabbits’ attackers scored the first goal of the game, setting the score to 0-1. The Barons returned this goal with a determined offensive, making sure to maintain possession of the ball and moving it up the field. This determination helped the Barons gain a shot at the goal around 10 minutes in, but it was blocked by the Jackrabbits’ goalie.
However, the block by the Jackrabbits’ goalie led to a Baron corner kick. Baldree took the corner, which led to another shot at the net, but to no goal.
Later on, with 20 minutes left on the clock, the Jackrabbits took control of the ball and pushed it up the field. However, Baldree stole the ball from a Jackrabbit midfielder and passed it to Ponce, who drove the ball up, passing three defenders but missing the shot at the goal.
With the ball going back and forth, the Barons managed to make a breakthrough in the Jackrabbits’ defense, with Yanez heading the ball in. This set the score to 1-1.
In the 25th minute of the game, a Baron knocked down a Jackrabbit player leading to a penalty shot. However, the Jackrabbits missed, and the Barons took this opportunity to drive the ball forward again. Their shot on goal was blocked by a Jackrabbit defender.
Going into the second half, the Barons decided to change goalies, with senior Austin Quach switching with Guillen.
In the 40th minute, a Jackrabbit player kicked the ball out of bounds. This allowed senior Jack Todd to throw the ball in toward Baldree, who passed it to Junior Aly Zaky, allowing for another shot on the goal. However, this was blocked by the Jackrabbits’ goalie.
Going into the 52nd minute, a Jackrabbit defender managed to pass it to their goalie, who kicked it to midfield. A midfielder drove the ball forward to take a shot at goal. However, Guillen blocked this shot.
A yellow card was given to a Barons player in the 55th minute, allowing a Jackrabbit to get a free kick. This free kick ended up with a shot on the goal, but again, it was blocked by Guillen.
The teams continued to pass the ball back and forth on the field, with each team periodically stealing possession of the ball until the 70th minute, where a Jackrabbits forward player managed to score, bringing the score to 1-2.
A Jackrabbit player also received a yellow card 72 minutes into the game for tripping a Baron. With the Barons getting a free kick, they attempted another shot at the net, but it resulted in a miss.
As the second half of the game came to an end, no teams were able to score for the duration.
Although the Barons lost, they were proud that they kept the game so close against a strong team throughout the entire game.
“Our game has definitely improved over the last few games we played. With playing so many talented teams, we were happy we were able to put up a good performance,” said Larsson. “It was an unlucky result, but we tried our best.”
From this game, the Barons look forward to working hard, improving and putting their best effort into their next games.
“I felt we did really well countering this game,” sophomore Drew Payne said. “However, we could have definitely improved on our first touch and decision-making.”
Boys soccer plays next against Huntington Beach High School in an away game on Monday with a kick off scheduled for 5 p.m.
This article was updated on Dec. 12 at 9:10 p.m. to correct junior Micah Yanez scoring for the Barons, not senior Myles Ponce.
