On Saturday afternoon, the boys’ soccer team competed in the Division VII California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Southern Section tournament’s Playoff Quarterfinals. The team was defeated by Nuview Bridge High School 1-3, ending their 2016-2017 season.
Jacob Perez ‘17 felt that he played “pretty well” and only made a few mistakes. Similarly, he believes that the team made a few mistakes but played well throughout the game. However, he thinks that the team’s loss was partially due to their struggle with covering their men when it came to set plays near their defending goal such as free kicks, corner kicks, and throw ins.
However, he believes that the team passed well and was able to get the ball over the top of their opponents defenders and into their opponent’s half of the field. Despite the team’s efforts, Perez felt that it was an unlucky game.
Although the team’s season came to an end after the Saturday game, Perez believes that the team made great improvements throughout the season. According to him, the team’s biggest improvement was their advancement in their passing abilities.
As the game came to a close, so did Perez’s high school soccer career. Perez reflected on his senior year soccer season by looking back at his favorite moments of the season, one being the team’s win against St. Anthony.
“My favorite part of the season was when we played against St. Anthony in the first round of playoffs coming up with two goals in the final minutes of that game,” he said.
It was times like these that made Perez’s high school season so memorable. Although Perez plans on playing soccer in college and in adult leagues, he is sad to see his high school season come to an end.
“It felt kind of like a dream at first, because it didn’t sink in right away but when it did it was a ‘wow’ moment,” Perez said. “[I’m] sad that it came to an end.”
The team will also be losing seniors Anthony Welcher, Aidan Wedderien, Alexis Leon, Jared Rodriguez, David Daniel, Miles Gillespie, Noah Colby and Kevin Waechter.
The Dragons ended their season with an overall record of ten wins, eight ties and two losses with a league record of five wins, five ties and two losses.
