The Los Gatos boys soccer team opened league play with high hopes, but two games and one goal later, the Wildcats were now facing an uphill battle after an 0-2 start.
Despite dominating the action most of the game in their league opener at Los Altos, the Cats gave up a goal two minutes into the game and another with five minutes to go and fell 2-1.
?What a game,” said Los Gatos coach Rusty Millard. “We showed fight, spirit, and resiliency for an entire 80 minutes. We literally left it all out on the field today, and that is all that I can ask as a coach.”
The Cats dominated possession time and had several golden scoring opportunities, but they simply could not beat the Eagles’ goal keeper.
In the 19th minute, an Alec Smoley through ball to Andy Heimer left Heimer one-on-one with the Los Altos keeper. Heimer shot left, but the goalie correctly guessed left and made an outstanding diving save.
In the second half, Smoley would again play a perfectly timed through ball, this time to Hayden Senter. The senior found himself all alone with the keeper, and he slotted the ball into the right side of the net to tie the game 1-1.
The Cats had the momentum and kept up the pressure, but with five minutes to go Los Gatos got caught in a quick counterattack by the Eagles, who fired in the game-winning goal.
“For our boys to come back and tie the game and to keep pushing forward for the win says a lot about where our mindset is at,” said Millard. “We don’t just want to be competitive, we want to win.”
But winning would prove to be difficult as Los Gatos traveled to Mountain View two days later and ran into a very strong team.
Mountain View had good ball possession from the start and kept Los Gatos from establishing any kind of offensive rhythm. But despite the ball control, the Spartans had difficulty getting past the Wildcat defense.
The game remained scoreless until the 31st minute when Mountain View would get the lone goal of the day on a quick strike that just eluded Los Gatos keeper Marshall Finch.
Los Gatos nearly tied the game minutes later when senior Sebastain Cousin’s shot from just outside the box would sail just inches wide of the far post. Moments later, Smoley challenged the goal and got tangled up with the Mountain View keeper, but the ball stayed out of the net.
Both teams had solid opportunities in the second half, but no one would score. Heimer just missed wide on Los Gatos’ best opportunity.
“We didn’t lose today, we just ran out of time” said Millard. “The entire Mountain View team kept asking how much time was left during the last 10 minutes because they knew we were about to score.”
But for the second straight game, Los Gatos could not get that elusive victory.
“We worked extremely hard to try and tie this game and unfortunately it just didn’t work out,” said Millard. “I am so proud of our team and I know that things will turn around for us. We work very hard each day and we do everything the right way, so I know our hard work will eventually pay off.”
Comments (0)
Post a comment
There are no comments for this entry yet.