[For the full photo galleries, click here.]
By COURTNEY WHYTE
Staff Writer
University High School’s (UHS) boys soccer won both of their games this week, playing against Pacifica High School (PHS) on Thursday, December 11 and San Juan Hills High School (SJHHS) on Friday, December 12.
In the Thursday game against PHS, both teams played aggressively, but UHS was able to dominate offensively. The ball was in UHS’s possession for the majority of the game. Aidan Galassetti (Sr.) challenged many of the PHS players during one-on-one plays and frustrated the other team defensively by continually winning headers and volleys. He unfortunately played too aggressively that he was given a yellow card by the referee. At the end of the second half, Indiana Fuller (Sr.) nailed the ball into the far corner post and gave UHS its first and only goal of the game.
This was Fuller’s first game with the UHS team after his recent departure from his Academy team. The team is very excited to have him and looks forward to seeing what he contributes to the team dynamic. His ball handling skills were a definite threat to PHS as he passed to Tommy Levasseur (Sr.), Milan Allister (Fr.), Alexander Yi (Sr.), Adam McDermott (Sr.) and more throughout the game.
On Friday, December 12, the Trojans played against SJHHS, which had been publicized through the “Pass the Ball” challenge on social media sites such as Instagram and Facebook. Attendees who participated uploaded short videos of themselves kicking, serving and otherwise passing the ball outside of the frame, then tagging other classmates to do the same. Many UHS supporters showed up to cheer on UHS in their big home game despite the rain. Once again, UHS controlled the ball offensively for the majority of the match. Their defense connected well and goalkeepers Cody Nguyen (Sr.) and Michael Armand (Sr.) did not let any balls past them.
In the first half, Fuller fired a shot from the 18 and gave UHS its first goal of the match. He then scored another goal in the second half off of a corner taken by Riley Duncan (Jr.). When asked what he thought of the team’s performance in the past two games, Fuller said, “Thursday and Friday were my first 2 games with Uni Varsity soccer and I felt that I clicked with the team. We’ve connected a lot of passes and played very well which allowed us to win these past 2 games. We are now 3-0 at our home field. I’m very proud of our team and can’t wait for league games to start.”
Co-captain Levasseur was happy with the team’s performance as well and said, “Indiana has been a great addition to the team. These 2 games were good confidence boosters for the team and it should help us push forward and step up our game even further for better future teams so we can be physically and mentally ready.”
The team is now 2-1 in pre-league. Their next game is against Godinez High School on Wednesday, December 17.