By Maya Ekladious
On Friday, Jan. 13, 2023, the boys’ varsity soccer team played their first league home game against Marina High School in an intense match-up and dominated with a score of 2-1.
Key players in this game were senior captain Devin La Clair, sophomore Zachary Groff and junior Noah Baldree.
“It was a tough game so I’m really happy we came out with a win,” Groff said.
The game started with the Vikings maintaining an aggressive offense. The Barons attempted to score with La Clair shooting the ball in the seventh minute, but the ball went out of the net. This attempt by the Barons drove the Vikings to make a strong attack, but their shot was blocked by senior goalkeeper Adam Guillen one minute later.
However, the Vikings did not give up, they attempted to make another shot at the Barons’ net but Guillen once again blocked the ball from entering.
In addition, sophomore Brandon Peterson showed great defense throughout the first half of the game, tackling aggressively with the Vikings.
At 22 minutes, the Vikings played a corner kick and scored the game’s first goal to change the score to 0-1.
Minutes later, a Baron got fouled by a Viking player at midfield. The foul was taken by Groff, who was able to score, equalizing the scoreline in the first half.
Nine minutes before the end of the half, the Vikings came forward with a strong attack, but Peterson and Baldree worked together to steal the ball from the opposing team’s forward players.
With less than a minute left in the first half, the Vikings came close to scoring, but Groff blocked the shot and the score stayed at 1-1 to end the half.
“Our main challenge from the opposing team was that they had really far throws so we had to work hard to defend those setpieces,” Groff said.
The second half of the game was defined by strong attacks from both teams but the Barons’ defense firmly held up.
In the 55th minute, The Vikings came forward with an attack, but Guillen stopped their shot. Minutes later, the Barons traveled across the field with the ball and came close to the Vikings’ net. Junior Micah Yanez had a scoring opportunity but was blocked by the Vikings’ goalkeeper.
With 10 minutes left in the game, senior Jack Todd stole the ball from the Vikings and the Barons attacked. The Vikings’ Defense failed to stop the Barons, and with the help of his teammates, Baldree shot the ball into the Vikings’ net, scoring the last goal of the game to bring the score to 2-1.
Guillen showed great defense in front of the net for the remainder of the game, saving the ball three times in Viking attempts to tie the score.
The Barons are proud of their win and hope to only get better from here as they move on throughout the remainder of their season.
“For the remainder of the season, I look forward to playing other teams and giving it our all,” Baldree said.
