On Wednesday, Dec. 10, the boys’ varsity soccer team tied their nonleague pre-season game versus the Windsor Jaguars. The final score, 2-2, brought the Giants’ record to 1-1-1, to start the season.
The game started off slow, with both offenses struggling to find any sign of life. At the 23-minute mark, the Jaguars scored and pulled ahead. Senior midfielder James Mostafavi had a last minute blocked shot on goal, meaning the Giants would be trailing 0-1 going into the second half.
Sophomore Ryder Clark, who later scored the game tying goal, described the team’s tactical approach in the second half, propelling them towards their comeback.
“The adjustments we made were to press a little bit higher up and put the [defense] under pressure,” Clark said. “That allowed us to be in the attacking third for the majority of the game, [forcing] them to make a mistake for us to score the [game-tying] goal.”
In the second half, the Giants scored two goals, one by freshman midfielder Tristan Turner at the 15-minute mark in the second half. The Jaguars answered back quickly, pulling their lead ahead to 2-1 with less than five minutes left.
Clark scored a goal in the final two minutes of the game on a long throw-in pass, bringing the score to an even 2-2.
Junior and team captain Justin Shern reflected on the team’s performance and how their chemistry has paid off.
“One of the principles that we’ve been talking about is being selfless and having unity as a team. So I was really proud of us today, even though we were down the majority of the game, we were able to fight back and get the draw. I’m proud of everyone for never giving up in that game,” Shern said.
The Giants fought their way back into this game, which Shern credited their late push to the team character and resilience they’ve built early in the season.
“We come into games with a lot of good chemistry, and I think we’ve been building a great community already through practices and at games. I think the livelihood along with the work ethic of this group is like something that we haven’t seen before,” Shern said.
Looking ahead, the Giants will face Berkeley High School on the road in their next match on Saturday, Dec. 13 at 3 p.m.
