Palo Alto High School's sports news magazine

Viking Magazine

Palo Alto High School's sports news magazine

Viking Magazine

Palo Alto High School's sports news magazine

Viking Magazine

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Boys’ soccer falls 1-4, to Homestead in first league game

With only two returning varsity players, the Paly boys’ soccer team (0-6-2) fell to Homestead High School (3-3-1) in their opening game of the 2012 season 1-4.
“We were trying to compete with them, stay with them and hopefully keep them from scoring,” Coach Donald Briggs said.
Several minutes into the game, Homestead scored a goal that set the tone for the Mustangs. Only a couple of minutes later, another goal was scored by the Mustangs, but the Vikings kept pushing. Though attempting many shots on goal, Paly could not seem to get the ball past Homestead’s goalie.

Late in the first half, with Paly still at a 0-2 deficit, Homestead managed to score another goal when Paly’s goalie, Gen Murph (‘13), stopped the shot, but the ball rolled  passed him over the goal line before he could retrieve it. The half ended with Paly trailing to Homestead by three points.

“Everything that happens on the field is a team effort so when there’s one or two players not putting the effort in they bring the whole team down,” Paul Stefanski (‘13) said. “I think in the first half we needed to work a lot better as a team and a lot more people needed to put all [of] their effort in.”

The Vikings started the second half strong, with some tactical changes made by Coach Briggs. Not long into the half, Homestead was able to score another goal and Paly trailed by four goals. However, Paly kept it up and managed to finish it off with a goal scored by Stefanski, ending the game at a 1-4 loss for the Vikings.

“If we had [put in more effort] earlier I think it could have ended differently,” Stefanski said.

The players hope that this game does not reflect the outcome of the rest of the season and hope the rest of their games show improvement.

“We need to work on being tougher and getting first to the ball,” forward Perry Kollias (‘13) said. “We need to be the [best] team that we can be.”

The Vikings’ next game is Friday, Jan. 6 at Mountain View High School at 3:30 p.m.

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About the Contributor
Michelle Friedlander, Design Editor
Michelle is a senior at Palo Alto High School. She joined The Viking staff at the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year, and is looking forward to covering Paly sports. She plays soccer both in and out of school year-round. She loves watching the San Francisco Giants play along with the San Jose Sharks and Oregon Ducks.

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