Boys JV loses opener at St. Francis - Thursday, 12/9/04

Valley Christian 1, St. Francis 3

The Warriors boys JV soccer team opened league play by traveling to St. Francis High School in Mountain View. While the weather was clear and cool - perfect for soccer - after heavy rains earlier in the week, the field was muddy and in some areas footing was treacherous. VC opened league play without the services of starting Midfielders David Yun and Jordan Pereira, and Defender Kyle Rosa (ankle injuries).

With 15 freshmen experiencing their first official WCAL game, the VC Warriors played tentatively on the slippery grass field, Partly due to the muddy field the Warriors played cautiously, working the ball carefully around the field. As VC began to pick up the tempo, so did St. Francis. The Lancers pushed forward and tested VC keeper Theo Matheou, who played well until losing a long, high Lancers shot in the sun. It sneaked in just under the crossbar to open the scoring.

The Warriors regrouped and began to press forward and move the ball well, getting off some shots on goal against St. Francis, but the Lancers keeper stopped them. Late in the first half St. Francis got a lucky second goal and VC went to the halftime break down 2-0. The team got fired up again and planned new tactics to deal with the muddy field. The Warriors came storming back, sparked by a fired-up Josh Rothenberg and solid play on defense, particularly by Robert Norman. Despite the muddy field defenders Norman, Tyler Seaman, Tyler Williamson and Mike Hill played well. VC moved the ball effectively up the field and took shots, but were unlucky in not getting one into the goal.

VC Captains Ryan Favre and Kegan Garrison played well and stepped up in their leadership roles to rally the team, which played a great second half looking to get a goal and then tie up the score. Unfortunately St. Francis scored another goal on a counter-attack, putting VC down 3-0. But the young Warriors team refused to give up, and led by the tenacious midfield play of Garrison and Rothenberg consistently mounted attacks on the Lancers goal via drives up the line and across the field serving the forwards. Ryan Favre suffered a painful foot injury but continued to play and nearly scored.

As the game wore on St. Francis fouled VC outside the penalty area and Garrison quickly converted a perfectly placed free kick into the upper left corner of the Lancers goal as St. Francis scrambled to organize its defense.    

A disappointing loss, but overall a well played game by the young Warrior JV team in the first WCAL game for three quarters of the team. Up next is a tough match Saturday with the powerful St. Ignatius Wildcats.

vcsoccer.com  JV Man of the Match:  Kegan Garrison 

VC Starting Lineup: Matheou, Seaman, Williamson, Norman, Hill, Garrison, Hughes, Reyes, Walitsch, Favre, Fahmy.

VC Scoring:  Garrison (free kick)

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