by Kylie Gifford
The VCHS varsity boys soccer team powered through their season; in the past several weeks, the Warriors have shown tremendous heart and proven that they can keep up with the best of the WCAL.
On December 12, the team faced arch-rival Bellarmine on unfamiliar territory. The boys knew that they would have their work cut out for them against this CCS powerhouse, but they took the field confident that they could compete with the Bells. The Warriors kept their intensity up throughout the duration of the first half, not allowing their opponent to gain the advantage and sending the game into the second half with a 0-0 tie. Their efforts continued to pay off in the second half until the Bells stepped it up with a mere eight minutes left in the game. A shot into the upper left corner of the goal proved impossible to stop, even for VC goalkeeper Austin Mansker, who had made nine incredible saves in the first half alone. After this first goal, the Warriors were unable to combat Bellarmine’s momentum and the game ended in a 0-3 loss for Valley Christian.
After this unfortunate ending against the Bells, the Warriors traveled to Serra just a few days later to face another top-ranked team in the league. In another difficult match, the Warriors found it difficult to overcome their opponent and fell to the Padres 0-5. They were not discouraged, however, and over the nearly three weeks they had until they faced their next opponent, they worked on improving and preparing for the remainder of the season.
January 4 brought another unfortunate result for the Warriors. While they fought valiantly and kept up their intensity throughout the game, VC was unable to defeat the Saint Francis Lancers, resulting in a 0-2 loss. A mere two days later, however, the boys were back on top of their game as they took the field against Riordan. Senior forward Ryan Favre put one in the net in the fourteenth minute to give the Warriors an early lead. Just a few minutes later, freshman forward Alex de Leon took a shot off a pass from senior captain Ross Mark, scoring the first goal of his VC soccer career and increasing the Warriors’ lead to 2-0. Senior defender John Field wasted no time in further solidifying the lead before halftime with a perfectly placed shot from over 20 yards away from the goal.
The Warriors refused to let down their guard in the second half, allowing their opponent only five shots on goal. While Mansker kept the ball out of the VC net, junior forward George Fahmy capitalized on an opportunity to score one more for the Warriors. His perfect positioning near the Riordan goal with just a few minutes left on the clock allowed him to finish off a deflected shot by junior John Walitsch, ending the game with a 4-0 Valley Christian victory.
The momentum gained from this win was unable to carry the boys to another victory in their next game against Saint Ignatius; while VC was able to control the ball for the majority of the game, they were unfortunately unable to finish, falling to the Wildcats 1-4. However, they did not let this loss get to them, as they knew they would soon be facing some tough competition.
The Mitty Monarchs arrived at Valley Christian on January 11 clearly hungry for revenge. After being defeated by the Warriors early in the season, the Monarchs had one last chance to redeem themselves. VC, however, refused to give them this chance, and came out prepared to defend their goal with all they had. Late in the first half, after a constant back-and-forth battle, Favre put the Warriors on the board with a phenomenal left-footed shot and gained a lead for the Warriors. The Monarchs quickly responded, however, tying the game before halftime. The second half brought an even higher level of intensity, and though the Warriors were unable to regain the lead, an incredible defense and a few brilliant saves by Mansker prevented the Monarchs from putting any shots in the net, ending the game in a 1-1 tie.
This game was the first of a series of ties for the Warriors; against Sacred Heart Cathedral, the score remained deadlocked 0-0 from beginning to end. Then, for the first time in VC soccer history, the boys battled Bellarmine and refused to let the Bells finish on top, resulting in a 2-2 tie.
After they were defeated in their first game against Bellarmine, the boys knew they had one more shot to step up their game. They stepped onto the home field knowing the challenge they faced and ready to redeem themselves. Midway through the first half, Walitsch stole the ball from a Bellarmine defender and launched a shot into the net right over the keeper’s head for a 1-0 VC lead that would hold until just after halftime, when the Bells managed to put one in to tie the game. After a few more minutes of battling, de Leon earned a free kick for the Warriors from about 20 yards out, and Mark took a perfect shot, bending the ball into the far upper post corner to regain the lead.
The Bells came back to score once again with 8 minutes left in the game, and the game concluded with one final remarkable save by Mansker in the last few seconds. Though the boys came close to defeating Bellarmine for the first time, they were more than happy to hold their opponent to a tie.
As the Warriors wound down to the end of the season, they faced a few more challenges. They were unable to achieve the results they wanted against Serra, losing the tough game 0-2. A few days later, however, they were able to secure a win at Riordan, which, due to terrible field conditions in previous years, VC has never been able to do. This 3-1 victory gave the boys the confidence they needed against Saint Francis, and after an intense back-and-forth battle, the Warriors tied the Lancers 0-0.
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