On the cool evening of Nov. 27, 2023, the Foothill Technology High School (Foothill Tech) boys’ soccer team faced off against the Ventura High School (Ventura) Cougars at Ventura’s home field. After a hard fought match, the two teams ended in a stalemate with a final score of 2-2.
Foothill Tech’s center-back Ronan Murphy ‘25 hyped up the team before the game began, “90 minutes is all we need to make something happen.” Foothill Tech gave truth to this remark in the early portion of the first half as they established their lead. After quality movement and confident ball control down the field, forward Diego Flores Orozco ‘24 evaded defenders and was able to drive the ball into the goal.
After the first goal of the game, Ventura kicked off and maintained possession of the ball for a hefty amount of time. During this time, Ventura made many attempts to score. These shots were often missed or stopped by Foothill Tech’s goalkeeper Adam Alwarhani ‘24 who kept the ball from meeting the net. But after relentless attacks from the Cougars, Ventura finally got the ball past Alwarhani to tie the game, 1-1.
After Foothill Tech’s kickoff, they lost possession as the Cougars took the ball towards the Dragons’ goal where they launched a multitude of attempted kicks which were stopped by defenders and Alwarhani.
As the timer clicked down towards the end of the first half, Foothill Tech made one last drive to score on Ventura. Nico Flores ‘24 of Foothill Tech took a shot on the goal but was unable to connect with the net. This attempt concluded the first half in a score of 1-1.
After the kickoff, Ventura gained possession of the ball, where they once again attempted to score on Foothill Tech. They were unsuccessful in these attempts as the Dragon’s defenders redirected the ball towards the other side.
As Foothill Tech moved on Ventura’s goal, Merric Bayless ‘24 attempted a header to score which was blocked by Ventura’s goalkeeper. Directly after, another shot was made which didn’t connect, before the ball drifted back towards Foothill Tech’s side of the field.
With another set of continuous attacks on Foothill Tech’s goal, Ventura was able to get a ball into the goal, putting themselves in the lead 1-2.
After the kickoff, Ventura gained possession instantly, launching another set of attacks. Alwarhani was able to clear the ball on one drive and make a difficult save from a close range kick made by Ventura.
After a brief timeout due to an injury of Foothill Tech’s Ricky Salinas ‘24, the game resumed as Ventura took control of the ball and made a couple attempts to score, none of which were successful.
As time was running out, Foothill Tech was getting desperate. With less than a minute to spare, a shot was made by Foothill which was initially blocked, but Bayless pursued the ball and was able to nudge it into the goal to end the game in a tie, 2-2.
Goalkeeper Alwarhani reflected on the team’s performance, “we have a lot more games to come … a lot more chemistry to build … but I think we did amazing.”
Head coach Luis Sanchez believes that the key to success is for the team to “work as a family” and thinks “they’re starting to believe” in this idea as he reflected on the game’s result.
Foothill Tech’s next game will be against Fillmore High School (Fillmore) on Nov. 28, 2023, at Fillmore’s home field.
