On Jan. 25, the MVHS varsity girls soccer team had a fast-paced start in the first half against Los Altos HS, including a close goal attempt from sophomore Hana Foster just 10 seconds into the game. But this high intensive time was short-lived as sophomore Samiksha Rao got a red card just three minutes into the game by tripping a defender from behind, forcing the Matadors to play without a starting defender for the rest of the match.

“In the first three minutes of game, I got a red card which is really unfortunate,” Rao said. “I was really looking forward to playing in this game and it just sucked that I got out so soon.”

This led to LAHS having one extra player for the rest of the match, but the Matadors began to strategize so that all the LAHS players were being marked. Sophomore Sriya Kaushik explained that the first half by the Matadors was a back-and-forth match, with neither team able to gain ground on the other.

“With 10 players there was always someone extra that we had to mark, but we were able to level up to them and press them very well to reduce their number of scoring opportunities,” Kaushik said.

By the time the first half was almost over, neither team had scored, though there were numerous unsuccessful shots on both ends of the field. However, with just a couple minutes left in the first half, LAHS was able take a 1-0 lead and finish the first half with the lead.

With LAHS in the lead going into the second half, this gain against the Matadors allowed them to score once again 29 minutes into the second half, causing the Matadors to trail by two goals.

This lead effectively ended the game, reducing the Matadors’ intensity at the end of the second half, resulting in MVHS’ second loss to LAHS this season.

“We definitely need to keep up our intensity and we need to play like this for the rest of the season, considering they [LAHS] are at the top of their top of the league,” Kaushik said. “We have to keep our intensity high up, play balls to feet and just try to get more scoring opportunities.”