On a warm Thursday afternoon, the Fountain Valley Boys Varsity soccer team took on Marina high school in the finals of the Marina Holiday Classic. Playing their 5th game in 3 days, the boys were sore and beat up in the final game. They would lose a very tight match 0-1 and take 2nd place in the tournament that commenced the pre-season for the Barons.
The tournament commenced on Tuesday the 27th and the Barons were in a group with two out of town teams Tustin and Whittier. In the first game the Barons took on Tustin High School. After a slow first half which saw no goals from either team the Barons looked a little sluggish and put together a shaky half. However, in the 2nd half the Barons sprung alive and annihilated Tustin putting away 4 goals in a short span of 15 minutes in the beginning of the half. Ethan Morrow (’12) took part in every goal scoring 2 and setting up two more, Joseph Solimon (’13) would put away the two others, and playmaker Isaac Garcia (’14) supplied the other two assists. With a very strong cushion and with Tustin taken aback the Barons finished off the game easily and came away with all 10 points in the tournaments 10 point system, the win, three goals, and the shutout, with a final score of 4-0.
In the next group game played, on the same day, the Barons took on another team they had never played, Whittier High School. Once again the Barons struggled in the first half of the game. After missing more than 3 goal-mouth opportunities toward the beginning of the game, Whittier victimized the Barons with a header off a corner kick before the half. After another below par first half the Barons came out strong again in the second. After battling hard the whole half and long stints of offensive pressure, the Barons finally were able to put one away in the last 5 minutes of the game. Garcia played a lofty cross from the left side which found Morrow at the far post for his third goal of the tournament. The goal tied the game 1-1, which would put the Barons through to the quarter finals.
On Wednesday morning, the Barons took on Long Beach Poly in the quarters. The boys played a strong game overall but were unable to score early. The defense of the Barons played exceptionally well keeping the Barons alive while the goals ran thin, but toward the midde of the second half, Long Beach Poly netted the first of the game after getting behind the Baron defense. The Barons rallied back to the goal though, and within 5 minutes of the first goal answered back, with a goal from Joseph Soliman off a Kenji Louer(13′) throw in. Lorenger was the shooutout keeper for the Barons and was able to stop 2 pks giving the Barons 5th kicker a chance to send the boys to the Semis. Matt Ellis (’14) stepped up to the dead ball and convincingly finished it off for the Barons 4-3 in PKs.
In little less than 2 hours after their first game of the day, the Barons took on Sunset league opponent Newport Harbor, who they would be facing exactly one week from then in a league opener.
“This is a chance to send a message to the league, and put a little doubt in their heart, come next week,” commented Coach Jason Smith.
With a league opponent on the field, the Barons stepped up to play their best game of the tournament thus far against a strong Newport team, but one that the Barons must put away both meetings in league to be in contention for first. The boys did just that and played a very strong game, dominating Newport all over the field. The Barons came away with a 1-0 victory at the end of the day, with Morrow scoring yet again in the second half off of a great defensive play by Derek Huynen (’13). The Barons moved on to the finals, to face yet another Sunset league team Marina.
Marina High School had not won their own tournament in some time. In their coaches 10 year history with the team this was the first year they had even made it to the finals. The Barons were in their second tourney final of the year and second against a Sunset league team the last a win against Los Alamitos in the Irvine challenge.
Marina came out from the start very hard and perhaps caught the Barons off guard a bit, and after a few dangerous chances the Barons unfortunately let a loose ball in the box go to the Vikings for a goal, going down 0-1. The rest of the half the Barons applied most of the offensive pressure the boys were unable to convert any chances though, on a strong Marina defense. In the second half the Barons played very well and tried frantically to score. In the last 10 minutes of the game the Barons had an abundance of set pieces but were unable to convert on any of them. After a hard fought battle the Barons lost a very close 0-1 in the Marina final taking a second place seat to Marina.
Coach Jason Smith commented on the pre-season and Marina tournament, “The Marina Tournament has always been a tune up tournament, and I think the boys are ready for the Sunset league after a strong pre-season.”
Garcia, Solimon, and Morrow all received all-tournament honors in the Tournament after strong offensive play in the five games. The Barons look to start the Sunset league next week against Newport Harbor on January 4th.
