The Bears dominated the Aragon Dons 3-0 on Friday evening, remaining undefeated with a 10-0-3 record. This win put the Bears in first place in the league.
The Dons had first possession but quickly kicked the ball out of bounds. Wasting no time, the Bears immediately responded by dribbling the ball down to the goal and shooting a corner kick. Deflecting the kick, the Dons took possession and attempted to score but sophomore goalkeeper Torry Franz prevented a goal.
The Dons continued to be aggressive on offense, but Franz halted every attempt. The Bears finally had a chance at a goal after multiple passes between senior striker Nathan Thurlow and senior midfielder Lucas Selvik. Selvik set Thurlow up for a shot but he narrowly missed the goal.
Both teams fought for the ball during the next five minutes, but neither team managed to make any advances to the goal. The Dons eventually moved the ball out of midfield but failed to land both of their corner kick attempts.
The Bears gained possession, and Thurlow quickly dribbled the ball down. Thurlow laid it off to Selvik, who faked a shot to dodge a defender and then shot to the right corner, but the Aragon goalkeeper stopped it from reaching the net.
Senior midfielder Yandel Hernandez drew a foul right outside of the box, allowing the Bears to score with a free kick, but he narrowly missed.
With 13 minutes left in the half, senior defender Manases Lara Alvarez dribbled into the box, dodging three Aragon defenders, and sunk the ball into the top left corner giving the Bears a 1-0 advantage.
The next few minutes were filled with numerous M-A shot attempts, but the Dons’ goalkeeper managed to block each goal.
M-A kicked off the second half with possession. After a few minutes of back and forth, Thurlow ran down a wide-open lane to the goal but was tripped by an Aragon defender. The Dons received a yellow card, allowing Alvarez to sink the free kick for the Bears putting M-A at a 2-0 lead with 35 minutes left in the game.
The Bears continued to be aggressive on offense, attempting multiple missed goals. With less than 20 minutes remaining in the half, the Bears fouled and gave the Dons possession. Hernandez quickly stole the ball back and passed it to Thurlow, who was wide open and scored a laser goal from the left side, making the score 3-0.
The Bears attempted to waste the remaining time, as the Dons got their first goal attempt in the second half but threw it too far. Determined to stay in the game, the Dons made it to the box on multiple possessions, but the Bears stole the ball every time.
The remaining minutes were filled with both teams fighting over the ball until the Dons made one last attempt at a goal with two minutes remaining, but the shot flew wide. The game came to an end with a 3-0 win for the Bears.
“We executed on the attacking side and connected as a team to reach our full potential,” Alvarez said.
“We prepare well for every game, but on a personal level this was one we all wanted to win, and everyone brought it out in the field giving 100% to get us the win,” junior center midfielder Tomer Jacobs said.
“We did spectacular, our team just bonded on another level, we all just read the field and insensitively moved and dominated,” Hernandez said.
The Bears will play the Sequoia Ravens at home this Friday for their senior night at 4 p.m.
