Though the game remained scoreless for the first half hour, the match was far from monotonous. Anchored by its strong defending and goalkeeping, the Matadors defeated Evergreen Valley High School to advance to the CCS quarterfinals. Check the gifs below to see five key moments from this first round fixture.

1. Senior Michael Ligier was elbowed in the back while attempting to win a header. Despite the Matadors’ appeals for a yellow card, the Cougars escaped the dangerous challenge without a booking.

2. After senior Bardia Ohadi was fouled by EVHS, junior Radwan Hamwi successfully took the penalty kick. MVHS maintained the one-goal lead until midway through the second half.

3. Senior Anirudh Srinivas blocked a direct shot from a EVHS corner kick. During the second half, the team fell back on defense to prevent EVHS from scoring and to keep their lead of one goal. However, one EVHS forward cut straight through the middle of the Matador defense, shot passed Srinivas’ reach and tied the game 1-1.

4. Desperate to break the 1-1 tie, Ohadi attempted a shot but aimed too high and the ball went through the field goal post. MVHS kept up its defense with consistent blocking from Srinivas and consistent clearing by defenders, but the Matadors couldn’t generate much on offense due to EVHS’ equally strong defense. The scored remained a tie through the rest of the second half and the whole of the 2o minute overtime, until the penalty kick shootout at the end.

5. Sophomore Ori Lavi was the sixth player to take the penalty kick of the overtime shoot out.  With his goal, the score became 4-3 . EVHS also scored in the sixth round; however, MVHS took the lead in the seventh round, with junior Eric Pala’s goal and Srinivas’ block. With a mere one-goal difference, MVHS boys soccer won its first round CCS game in 6-5.

Boys soccer will play the CCS quarterfinals against Watsonville High School at WHS on Sat. Feb. 28 at 4:00 p.m.

Additional reporting by Alina Abidi and Nathan Desai