By Yasir Khaleq, Staff Writer
Fountain Valley boys soccer went against the Edison Chargers in a fierce game that ultimately ended in a 1-1 tie for the rival teams.
Edison opened the scoring early after a defensive mishap from the Barons, allowing an Edison attacker through on goal and an easy finish. However, Varsity Captain Ryan Erickson (’16) quickly got the Barons on level terms when he swept home a loose ball in the box after the Edison goalkeeper made a save.
For the rest of the half, it was all Fountain Valley. Midfielder Raymond Hernandez (’16) ran the show, making passes and gliding past players to great effect. Despite great play from the Barons, they couldn’t find a goal and the two teams would go into half time with a 1-1 tie.
The boys came out into the second half showing the same intensity and desire, which at times overwhelmed their rivals.
“I think everybody worked together. Everybody was working hard. We knew who we were playing, and we knew we wanted the win” said Hernandez.
Midway through the second half, the Barons had a great scoring opportunity that was well saved by the Edison keeper, and the ball deflected to Zachary Young (’17). He hit it on the volley, and it was cleared off the line by an Edison defender. Another shot came in and was cleared off the line once again. This summed up the game for the Barons, who created plenty of chances but couldn’t pull away for the victory.
“I think we had chances, we just didn’t put our chances away. It was a good fight for both teams. It all came down to executing, and unfortunately neither team was able to do so and that’s why we ended up with a tie” said Assistant Head Varsity Coach, Ryan Brown.
With the game ending in a tie, the two teams went into extra time, but the game still ended goalless.
“We’re just gonna use this momentum to take it into our next games and then win out the rest of the season” said Hernandez.
Despite the draw, there were still plenty of positives for the Barons in the game versus their #9 ranked CIF opponents.
“The desire and the fight we gave. Its never easy to play 100 minutes of soccer. I think our guys did a great job of battling and continuing to create chances for us to try and win the game. We never wanted to settle for a tie, we were going for the win the whole game, and i think our desire is something that we’re gonna build off of this game” said Brown.
