Boys soccer (0-1) lost their match against Mission Viejo High by a score of 0-3 on Dec. 5. The Bulldogs’ next game will be away on Dec. 16 against Woodbridge High.
During the first few minutes of the first quarter, the Diablos scored the first goal. Afterwards, the Bulldogs maintained good passes and were able to hold possession of the ball. However, a missed goal gave the Diablos the chance to score their second goal, which was followed by a period of back-and-forth passing between the two teams. The Diablos led the first half of the game with a score of 0-2.
At the start of the second half of the game, the Diablos continuously blocked the Bulldogs from scoring at the goal. Players continued to try to direct the ball to the midfield, where midfielder and junior Reda Alhajhussan fought to keep the ball from the Diablos, often attempting to assist a goal. The Bulldogs persevered and continued to attempt to score.
“[Our strategy was] trying to build out from the back and then let the midfielders get the ball,” Alhajhussan said. “Because the midfielders are really, like the best players in our team, and then just go from there and play the attackers.”
A big focus of the game was simply moving the ball and playing through the middle players, as well as adapting to the other team’s playing style by mimicking their direct approach, according to head coach Benjamin Jordan.
“I would say a positive is that we don’t stop trying to score,” Jordan said. “[However] I would say one of the bigger negatives is, I think when we feel like the game is getting away from us, we lose our discipline a little bit, and I think that leads to a lot of errors and a lot of turnovers…[the game helped] highlight where our weaknesses are.”
Throughout the game, the Bulldogs continued to rely on one another to block the Diablos from scoring more than they had already within the second half, according to goalkeeper and senior Karim Shehata.
“Our strategy was to pass around the ball [and] connect with each other,” Shehata said. “Play as a family, play as brothers. We play strong, we make sure that they know that we’re here, and especially because it’s our home field, we want to play strong.”
At the start of the second half, the Diablos immediately gained possession of the ball, and almost scored a goal before getting blocked by Shehata.
“[I believe we did well with] building out of the back,” Shehata said. “We didn’t do that good today, but it’s definitely a learning opportunity for us to implement during practices and during future games.”
