“This is our year.”
Coaches say it all the time in many sports themed movies during the climax, when they rally their players to finally win the championship game they had worked so hard for. It always seems cliché to say.

This year, however, for boys’ soccer, it’s different.
With seven seniors returning from last year, four returning sophomores and juniors and even the addition of an Earthquakes Academy player, the team looks almost indestructible.
The graduating class of 2012 has always boasted a powerful squad of players. During the 2010-2011 school year, they contributed 14 players to a squad of only 22 players). As seniors this year, the players already have three years of experience in school soccer under their belts, which means three years of adapting to other teammate’s playing styles.
I was fortunate enough to meet the varsity coach, Adam Clarke last season while playing for the freshmen-sophomore soccer team. I was also lucky to be able to watch the team’s first round CCS match against Live Oak High School. Even though the Falcons ended up losing the match 1-0, many members of the team, including the coach, thought that we should have won the game, had it not been for a sloppy goal given up.
Clarke believed that last year would be the year we won CCS. Even though one sloppy goal prevented us from progressing, it was evident that we possessed enough talent to be able to achieve that goal. This year, we’re only getting better.
As the preseason comes to a close and the season begins, we, as teammates have bonded and created a tough yet supportive atmosphere. After my first days of varsity soccer practice, I came home totally exhausted having played against such skillful players.
With so many amazingly skillful players on the team, such as freshman Earthquakes Academy player Samuel Junqua, and his brother, senior Jonathan Junqua, a starter for varsity all four years of his high school career, it’s no wonder the players feel the need to push themselves to keep up with the tremendous talent that surrounds them. As we all push ourselves to get better, we are able to adapt to each other’s, and we become even more cohesive and menacing as a team.
Saratoga soccer has been hugely underrated in recent years. Parents and a few friends support the players at the home games, much unlike the attendance to football games. As we get ready to play the hardest teams of the Bay Area, we’re confident that we have the tools necessary to live up to expectations, possibly surpass them.
This is our year.