By OLIVER CORPUS
Staff Writer
Boys Varsity won their first match of the year 7-0 against Kennedy High School on Tuesday November 28.
Junior Ryan Romero and senior Darious Abdollahi scored one goal each against Kennedy during the first half. Romero was also elected captain on the game day, and the entire team wore black armbands in commemoration of a family member of Romero’s who passed.
“I think we could’ve done better, but it’s the first game of the season so hopefully things start running better as the season progresses,” Romero said when asked about how he thought the team performed. Romero also was the captain of the day, and helped lead the team to victory. “I was quite nervous to be honest…[I had] a lot of emotions going through my head at the moment,” said Romero, when reminiscing on his the team’s victory.
Although the team led 2-0 in the first half, Kennedy almost threatened the lead when they were awarded a penalty kick and almost scored. However, senior goalie, Jimmy Choi, blocked it to keep University in the lead. “The [two] penalties were all fairly straight forward, our guys just put the ball on the spot, and hammered it home,” said junior player, Lee McEgliot, when reminiscing how the team performed in the first half.
The team kept up the lead, scoring five more times, with Abdollahi scoring two more times and senior players Ivan Ma and Kian Mohensi scoring as well.
One goal that stood out to McEligot was when “junior player Giorgio Conta made a beautiful pass that split the other teams’ centerbacks right to sophomore player Omar Sabbagh who had a beautiful finish right in the corner [of the net].”
When recalling the team’s strengths, Varsity senior player Sam Kammerman discussed how they controlled and moved the ball better than the opposition, even though the defense was lacking in some parts of the game.
Even though the team did win, starting forward with senior player Pedro Palmaka sprained his ankle, negatively impacting the team. Coach Martin warned the team that although they won this game, 12/01’s game against Huntington Beach would not be as easy.