The Foothill Technology High School boys’ soccer team made their league debut for this season on April 22, taking on the Cate High School Rams. The defending league champion Dragons look to repeat their season from last year.

The Dragons were coming off of a 4-0 win against rival Saint Bonaventure and were on a three game winning streak going into the Cate match up. 

The game was kicked off by a quick shot from Alex Loza ‘22 just two minutes into the match, but it was shut down by the Cate goalkeeper. 

A 10 minute lull in offensive action was broken by Cate’s first shot of the game, but Foothill keeper Luke Shadden ‘21 saved it with ease. 

At the 25 minute mark, forward Bryson Blevins ‘22 made a move toward the goal and crossed it in, setting up a left-footed finish from Loza to put the Dragons up 1-0. 

Loza attempted to  make it 2-0 when he and midfielder Diego Ocampo ‘22 nearly executed a give and go that was barely foiled by the Cate goalkeeper.

The already physical game turned chippy when Shadden was fouled and then purposefully bumped while collecting a pass. This sent the crowd and players into an uproar, and two more Cate fouls soon after increased the intensity of the game.

Just before the end of the half, a foul on starting center back Zach Noah ‘21 was called just outside the box leaving Cate with an opportunity to tie. The ensuing shot went wide left, ending the half at 1-0 Dragons. 

Both teams immediately continued the physical play in the second half, with Cate garnering five fouls in the first eight minutes of the half. 

The Dragons and Rams exchanged offensive opportunities at the 25 minute mark, with captain Gavin Cattanach ‘21 taking a shot off of a corner kick that was ultimately blocked.

The Dragons then went on a three minute run of offensive bombardment, with a shot from Blevins, a free kick from Loza and a shot from Ocampo all narrowly kept from the back of the net.

A notable highlight of the game came when Cattanach successfully attempted a front-flipping somersault throw-in. When asked about it, he said, “at practice, [Coach] Saucedo was telling me about how he used to do it back in the day, and I didn’t believe him, so I had to do a quick flex for him out there.” 

The Rams had an opportunity to tie the game after Cattanach fouled just outside the box, but the free kick was blocked and cleared by a well placed wall from the Dragons. 

The Rams then committed 5 fouls in the span of a few minutes, the last of which led to a free kick close to the Ram’s goal. The kick was taken by Andre Anders ‘22 and ricocheted perfectly  off Loza’s head right past the Cate goalkeeper to extend the Dragons lead to 2-0.

The rough play continued, with even more fouls from Cate, the latter of which was followed by a shove from Cate after a collision with Cattanach. The crowd called for a yellow card, to no avail.

When asked about the physical nature of the match, Cattanach said, “we didn’t let our emotions take a hold of us like the other team, they lost their cool and that’s what led to our goal in the second half.”

The Dragons have yet to give up a goal since their first game of the year, making this their fourth shutout in a row. 

Center back Powell Saucedo said, “we’re built well as a team and we’re strong in the way we play so we don’t have many goals scored on us.”

Going into their third league game on Friday, April 30, Coach Luis Sanchez said, “we’re mentally getting ready for what we want to do so all the boys agreed to work hard to achieve another championship.”