Varsity Boys Soccer fell 1-0 to Milpitas High School on Friday, Feb. 16 at an away game. MVHS had a strong start by maintaining possession of the ball throughout most of the first half. However, during the second half, MVHS struggled with possession of the ball, leading to MHS’s winning goal.
During halftime, both teams strategized on how to gain and maintain the possession of the ball more and things they could improve on based on their performance in the first half. Senior and wing-back Sreevatsa Pervela recalls missed opportunities throughout the game.
“I think in the first half, we were able to control the ball really well,” Pervela said. “We had a few opportunities, but we just missed that final pass. Then in the second half, I think the amount of possession we had dipped. And then it was a really unlucky goal.”
Pervela also emphasized the defense tactics that affected the chances of scoring and also impacted their performance during the game and how the overall defense differed during after and before halftime.
“Defense is something we need to look at,” Pervela said. ”In the first half, I think we were pretty clean. They only had a few chances here and there, but there were no real chances, whereas in the second half they got at least two or three good chances to score.”
Head Coach Pancho Tzankov spoke about the teams’ overall performance and the qualities they expressed and implemented throughout the game. Moreover, he also wanted the team to have fun and enjoy while playing.
“I’m very proud of my boys,” Tzankov said. “They played very well and were very creative. We possessed the ball most of the time. So I’m very happy with their performance.”
According to Tzankov, not only did the team play well they also exceeded his expectations because of the quality of the game the team played despite having some key players missing.
“We had two subs, and we still managed to play equally,” Tzankov said. “Unfortunately, some of my starters are injured and they couldn’t come and some others are sick. So with this kind of team, we managed to do the best we can, and actually that really accepted my expectations.”
Senior and goalkeeper Kavya Kumar focused on the team’s performance during the first half. Despite having many key players missing, they were able to maintain composure most of the time.
“I feel like in the first half we were a lot more composed, and we were getting every ball,” Kumar said. “In the second half I think we got tired. We didn’t have any stops today. We started losing easy balls. But, I felt like we were really determined in this game to try to get a tie or a win, even when we were missing some key players.”
