Co-written with Kingsley Wang

On paper, the boys varsity soccer team has an average record. They have won three games, lost three and drew even in two. After a heartbreaking loss in penalties to Los Altos High School in the Homestead Cup final match, the Matadors have lost three consecutive games, bringing their record to 3-3. This record may not look that impressive, especially compared to last years 6-1-1 season start. But in reality, the record overshadows and devalues the strength of this team.

The Matadors’ strength is their play style, which emphasizes total domination of the field. They look for short quick passess around midfield. The forwards attempt to bypass the opposing defenders and look to make routes into open space. The midfield is tasked to play the ball into the forward and push up to the box to wait for any rebounding chances. This play style requires patience as the midfield has to stall until the opposing defense makes a mistake leaving a man unmarked. From the preseason, coach Patrick Lowney has tried to mold the team into this style by focusing on possession.

“We have players from the back to the front that are skillful, clever and imaginative,” Lowney said. “If we can get them to link well together, it’s going to be a good season.”

In the first game against Santa Cruz High School on Dec. 2, the Matadors achieved a 4-0 shutout win. They kept strong possession of the ball and prevented SCHS from capitalizing on any of MVHS’ mistakes. As a result, they dominated most of the game with many early shots, which led to four second-half goals. SCHS only kept the ball for only about 10 minutes of the 80 minute game.

With a blowout win to start the season, the Matadors took the same approach in their second home game against San Benito High School on Dec. 9. Although they had a rough start and conceded a goal in the first 25 minutes, the whole team kicked in and dominated the rest of the game. The Matadors moved the ball around the midfield, dominated the ball, and created opportunities from SBHS’ mistakes.Their possession on the field prevented SBHS from creating offensive plays and ultimately won them the game. As a result, the Matadors retained the ball for the full 45 minutes and scored two goals, the second of which was with 30 seconds left in the game.

On Dec. 19, the Matadors played their toughest opponent yet: Los Altos High School. Both had shown their dominance by making it the finals of the Homestead Christmas Cup. Right from the start, the strategies of the two teams were opposites.

LAHS, relying on long balls to deep players, created a constant threat of playing the ball past the Matador backline. LAHS’ forwards were taller and faster than the Matador defense. The Los Altos Eagles constantly kept their forwards deep, even in defensive plays. They usually got the ball down the wing and relied on crosses into the box to score.

MVHS, on the other hand, stuck with the playstyle that had won them the previous two games. They relied more on short passes on the ground to find a hole in the opposing defense, focusing on control of the midfield.

Within 10 minutes, the LAHS forwards broke through and scored the ball off the cross from the wing. Despite this, the Matador defense held on. The Matadors won almost all of the balls, being able to beat the taller LAHS forwards to the ball. While the defense won the ball, the midfield with seniors Anjan Amarnath and Matthew Crooks kept it with short passes. There were three shots that bounced off the crossbar.

In the second half, the Matadors pushed back. While LAHS still initiated deadly attacks, the Matadors were able to fend off the onslaught and possess the ball when they had the chance. This patience paid off as, when the LAHS defense faltered for an instant, Amarnath, a center midfielder, gave a deep ball to junior Bryce Mcneil who was able to bypass the keeper and score a goal. Then came the penalty kicks: the most dreaded and decisive state of the game.

The first few penalty kicks were lucky for MVHS. However, the LAHS goalkeeper was able to guess and dive to block a precious few balls. Only a couple of MVHS’ penalties went in, with some hitting the post and to go in.

LAHS was much more consistent and purposeful, getting the ball into the net on nearly every occasion.

In the eighth penalty, Crooks stepped up to take the shot. He took four steps back and made a general judgement on where he was to shoot it. The goalkeeper was jumping around on the line, trying to guess which way Crooks would shoot it. Crooks wound up and shot. The ball flew to the upper left corner. The shot was powerful and the goalkeeper made an unsuccessful attempt to grab it. However, the ball hit the crossbar and bounced off. The LAHS players swarmed the goalkeeper while Crooks stepped aside, hands behind his head. MVHS lost the match.

“They were a good team and deserved the title,” Lowney said.

After this loss against LAHS in the finals, MVHS fell into a slump for the next three games: losing three straight games. However, these losses do not truly reflect the strength of the team.

“We had a stroke of bad luck,” Lowney said, “There were some players who were out.”

Even with some players gone on vacation, the Matadors maintained their original gameplan and created close games.

“Many of the games, we felt that we could and should have won,” Lowney said.

Now that the Matadors are in league play, they will have to learn from their both their mistakes and successes in the preseason. As a top 25 ranked CCS team according to Prep2Prep, they will have high expectations from the rest of the El Camino League.