The Eagles Have Crash Landed
By: Bryan Sandahl
Ouch! The Eagles men’s soccer team has started off to a rough start. Will they be able to turn their season around?
The Eagles started off the season with a friendly match-up against Colegio Aleman in order to prepare for the upcoming ANS tournament in October. Unfortunately, the Eagles were not able to pull off a win, as they fell to Colegio Aleman5-1. Their defeat could be explained by several reasons: the team had only 1 real day of practice before the game leading to a lack of chemistry between players. Also, due to Colegio Aleman not having a large field, the Eagles were forced to play with only 9 players instead of 11, throwing off the entire game plan.
That same week, they prepared to battle against a club team, Juniors U17. They practiced Wednesday and Thursday to focus on the little details from their previous game, and to correct their mistakes in order to be better as a team. After a good week of practice, they felt prepared to defeat this mighty team.
On game day, the Eagles came walking out onto the field at 2:30 and warmed up as they waited for the other team to arrive. At 3:30, the whistle blew and the game was underway. The Eagles started off strong, looking like they could take this game. They pushed the ball up the field and kept it in the opponent’s territory for the majority of the first half. At about 10 minutes, a corner kick went into the 18 yard box and a shot was taken that hit the crossbar and rebounded right to Daniel Kim, who headed the ball in to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead. The crowd of parents, teachers, and students erupted and cheered for the Eagles. Unfortunately, after only 5 minutes, Juniors came back and evened up the score 1-1 with a good cross into the goalie’s box that their forward easily kicked in after the goalie was caught out of position. The Eagles kept fighting though, but again, Juniors came back and scored to take a 2-1 lead with about 5 minutes left in the half. The Eagles pushed hard, looking to even up the score before half. Suddenly, Daniel Kim kicked a laser right into the net with a beautiful left-foot shot from outside the 18 yard box. After the cheering of the crowd, the referee blew the whistle marking the end of the half with the game all tied up, 2-2.
After a quick breather, the second half commenced. The Eagles fed off the energy of the crowd, as the ladies volleyball team came to support the Eagles. The Eagles were feeling good about their chances of taking the win and giving their crowd more to cheer for. Unfortunately, it would not be so. The Eagles began to falter. Two quick goals were scored against them, taking a lot of momentum away from them. The Eagles allowed 2 more goals and in the end fell to Juniors with a score of 6-2. It was a devastating loss for a team that thought they could pull out a win. The Eagles shook hands with the opposing team and headed home.
Gladly, the Eagles do have a chance for another win with an upcoming friendly game against powerhouse ANS. Can the Eagles go to ANS and pull out a win in order to turn their season around?
