Paly Boys’ Soccer won their first match in the CCS tournament 4-0 against the Santa Teresa Saints. The team will now advance to play on Saturday, time to be decided.

The game started slow with the ball staying primarily in the middle of the field. Both Paly and their opponents Santa Teresa, had quality possession throughout the first half of the game.

The Vikings main attack opportunities came from the efforts of Cole Tierney (‘16) and Dami Bolorinwa (‘16) who both had several cross and attempted header plays, yet unfortunately were unable to score.

The strong performance of captain Preston Kuppe (‘15) at center defender helped the Vikings maintain a shutout during the first half of the game.

Kuppe almost scored at minute 7:00 of the first half when he drove up and pressured the Saints keeper, but was stopped by a jumble in the box.

In the last two minutes of the half Tierney scored off of a cross by Kuppe on the left side. This put the the Vikings in the lead going into halftime.

In the first six minutes of the second half there was a close call in the box, but it was decided in Paly’s favor and a penalty kick was not awarded to the Saints.

“Our play in the second half really set us apart,” Tierney said. “We really found the wings well and were able to penetrate through the defense with our crossing and develop a much better attack.”

Bolarinwa cut around two defenders, but was stopped before he got a shot off, the ball then was booted into the Vikings defensive half and stayed there for a good chunk of time.

“We had a lot of moments we didn’t finish today,” Coach Briggs said. “That has been a problem all season and we want to push more guys up there, but that would leave us vulnerable in the back.”

At 26:58 the efforts of goalkeeper Eli Friedlander (‘16) and Reuben Kramer (‘16) stopped the ball at the goal line and helped keep the Vikings shutout.

Michel Dudesert (‘17) almost scored at 14:50, but the ball was deflected off a defender that had covered back for the goalkeeper. Along with Dudesert, Steven Blatman (‘15) and Wesley Woo (‘15) came out strong in the second half and were a key part of the Vikings possession.

“I thought we really moved the ball well, both on offense and in the midfield,” Blatman said. “We had some great connections moving the ball up and that really gave us the edge in the second half.”

With 6:18 left in the match Dudesert came flying in to head a corner by Kuppe and made the score 2-0 which helped the Vikings hold the lead.

Two minutes later at 4:04 Dudesert scored again on a breakaway and slid the ball past the keeper which made the score 3-0 with minutes left in the game.

Less than two minutes in the game Woo is awarded a penalty kick after being brutally fouled in the box. He made it low in the left hand corner of the goal, the Vikings now lead 4-0.

“I think if we work on a few aspects of our game and clean up some of our touches, there’s no one we can’t beat,” Blatman said.

As the final whistle blew the Vikings hugged their way off the field celebrating their first win in the 2015 CCS tournament.