On Wednesday, the boys’ soccer team captured a landslide 5-1 victory against the Half Moon Bay Cougars.
Right off the bat, possession of the ball jumped back and forth between the two teams. Within the first six minutes of the game, senior Caleb Rosas slid past the defenders and put the ball in the net, assisted by a great lob pass by senior Hewitt Stevenson to give the Bears an early 1-0 lead.
The Cougars responded to the early M-A goal with intense aggression, but this failed to deter the Bears. With 15 minutes left in the first half, Stevenson scored off a volley after an M-A corner kick fell perfectly in his path. He wrapped his leg around the outside of the ball and tucked it into the side netting of the opposite post, extending the Bears lead to two.
M-A refused to give the Cougars an opportunity to score with their sturdy defense. This gave the offense plentiful opportunities to further secure their lead on counterattacks. With a pass from senior Albrecht Tribukait, junior Lucas Selvik knocked in another goal, increasing the Bears’ lead to three.
After a few wasted possessions by the Cougars and two minutes remaining in the first half, Rosas stunned the crowd once more as he successfully placed his shot 30 yards from the goal. The Cougars’ goalkeeper played an errant pass which fell to Rosas, and his ambitious effort bounced perfectly into the roof of the net.
Awarded player of the game by Maxpreps, Rosas said, “Today was a great win but going forward we need to start every game with more energy. We give up the first goal a lot and it is really hard for us to comeback after that.”
The first half ended with the Bears leading 4-0. M-A’s secure defense gave senior goalkeeper Chase Trigg a relaxing job throughout the first half.
The second half kicked off just as strong as the first for M-A. Within five minutes, junior Nathan Thurlow received a pass from sophomore Mateo Sosnik and scored M-A’s final goal of the game.
As the game approached its end, the Cougars fought for a successful offensive opportunity. While one strong attempt was saved by senior goalkeeper James Orr, they finally scored with 15 minutes left on the clock.
Soon enough, the final whistle blew and M-A celebrated their 5-1 victory. After the game, senior Cameron Leung said, “This was a great win for our spirits, we have had countless close games in league play that haven’t gone our way, so to be so dominant today felt great.”
