Varsity Boys Soccer fell to Cupertino High School 2-1 on Tuesday, Jan. 28, bringing their overall record to 8-3-4 and their league record to 3-2-2. After senior and center-back Emiliano Rodriguez scored the first goal of the match in a scramble at the goal line, MVHS struggled to maintain its momentum, resulting in CHS scoring before the end of the first half. Despite the game remaining even for a while, CHS secured the win by scoring a second goal in the last 10 minutes, resulting in a loss for MVHS.
Senior and center-back Spandan Dutta expected MVHS to come out on top due to a 6-0 victory in their previous matchup against CHS on Tuesday, Jan. 7. Despite the team being prepared for the opponents to come out playing at full effort due to the advantage of their home field, they ended up letting that get the best of them. Although the opponent’s aggression threw the team off, they actively adjusted their strategies and improved their attack.
“Throughout the game we adjusted our press, pressing high at critical times like the first five and last five minutes of every half, hoping to catch CHS off guard,” Dutta said. “We also adjusted to a midblock, allowing them to keep the ball in the defense and stepping only when they make a mistake which helped us conserve our energy for when we needed it the most.”
Senior and midfielder Aditya Bastola noticed the team suffered in the second half due to allowing the momentum to swing towards CHS after the opponents tied the score 1-1 in the first half. The Matadors oriented into a defensive mindset, resulting in a lack of attacking and, particularly, a lack of goal-scoring opportunities resulting in MVHS not scoring in the second half. Bastola identified another flaw in the team’s playstyle that contributed to the lack of scoring goals.
“We have to possess the ball more,” Bastola said. “We lose the ball a lot in the midfield and it is a big issue for us. We usually have the ball in the midfield and we just play the ball straight up, which is bad. Instead, we have to slowly progress the ball forward and if we can do that, we can take more shots outside the box.”
Despite strong individual performances, Dutta felt the team lacked unity and effective teamwork throughout the game. MVHS lacked a sense of connection between all the players which could be improved by keeping possession and playing the ball between us instead of relying too much on individual brilliance.
“We need to show up to practice and games more often and recover from small injuries,” Dutta said. “And we need to actually apply what we learned and practice in practice to the games rather than playing the same way we are comfortable with. As a leader, I could have done more to support and guide the team to fix these mistakes.”
Sophomore and center-attacking midfielder Lewly Tzankov echoed this perspective that the team’s performance today didn’t reflect their true potential. Specifically, pointing out that a few critical mistakes allowed CHS to catch up to MVHS on the break leading to the two goals.
“I feel like we can work on showing up more in practice and using our training and integrating them into performances in the match,” Tzankov said. “We train, but we don’t do the same things in the match because we panic, and then I panic. I do good in practice. I do what I need to do in practice, yet in the game, I panicked.”
