The Paly boys’ soccer team took down the Santa Clara Bruins Tuesday afternoon by the final score of 3-0.

The game started out pretty back and forth. For the first 20 minutes or so, both teams had spells where they created chances and held possession, but nothing came of it for either team.

Neil Verwillow (’17) found the breakthrough for the Vikes just after 20 minutes had passed. Verwillow got the ball in the box one-on-one with a Santa Clara defender and did a couple of cutbacks to create space before he fired the ball into the goal.

Santa Clara had the best opportunity to score in the first half after that point. After an illegal back pass from right back Nicholas Camarena (’17) to goalkeeper Michel-Ange Siaba (’17), the Bruins were given an indirect free kick from inside the 18-yard box. Despite the golden opportunity handed to them, the Bruins could not convert as Siaba came up with a save after the initial shot beat the wall.

Siaba came up big again late in the half making a great save on a Santa Clara shot, preserving his clean sheet and the Vikings lead.

The second half followed a very similar trend to the first before Verwillow once again scored about 20 minutes into the half. The Vikings would add a fortunate third goal after a corner kick from the Vikes hit a Santa Clara defender and bounced into the goal.

Despite their 3-0 lead, Siaba was forced to make some big saves in the half to keep the Bruins off the scoresheet.

In the end, it was a 3-0 win for the Vikings that saw them take their chances pretty well. Siaba had a great day in goal with numerous good saves to help give the Vikes a win.

The boys’ soccer team will look forward to their next match on Thursday on the road at Los Gatos.