Despite losing their last league game 4-1 against Fremont on Feb. 18 and placing second in the El Camino Division, the Falcons still managed to qualify for CCS as the sixth seed in Division IV for the first time in three years. Their run was short lived, however, as they fell 2-1 to Nueva School on Feb. 22 in a quarterfinals game played at Skyline College.
During the preseason, the Falcons faced the Nueva School Mavericks on Dec. 20 and lost 4-2. However, since the game was recorded on Veo, the head coach Ben Maxwell and assistant coach Andrew McRobbiew were able to rewatch the team’s performance to refresh their memory of Nueva’s playing style and strong players.
The Falcons had failed to shut down both Nueva’s winger and striker from advancing up the field, as they were the key playmakers that resulted in their previous loss. Knowing how to better defend and place their stronger players on the wing and in the middle, the team was more confident of their chances going into the game.
In a fog-covered game, their vision was hindered, making it hard for players to see the goal and make long-distance passes to advance up the field. Nueva took the lead in at the start of the game after their key winger broke through the Falcon defensive line. However, junior Keatyn Spendlove soon scored the equalizer after taking advantage of the Mavericks’ mismanaged goal kick in the 18-yard box.
The Falcons held strong into the second half, with a period of 10 minutes strictly played in Nueva’s half. After a few missed shots on goal and an impressive save from the Mavericks’ goalie, Neuva counterattacked and drove up the field. With a scramble to defend, the Falcons’ disorganization and miscommunication on the field led Nueva to score, and ultimately resulted in a 2-1 loss at the final whistle.
The team finished with a final overall record of 14-4-1, good enough for second place in the El Camino Division.
While their CCS journey fell short, there was major improvement from last season after they dropped down a division.
“This year we’re in the lower league, which is a change of pace so our team was able to do a lot better and we had a lot of freshmen who came in,” Katherine Lu said.
Although there are many promising freshmen such as twins Sienna and Hailey Sordello, who will be key to the team’s success in future seasons, there are also many key losses to graduation including seniors goalie Sofia Cintra, center mid/center back Hillary Gonzalez, midfielder/center back Anika Kapasi, winger/outside back Asheeka Noronha and midfielder Anisha Rahut.
Overall, the team hopes to utilize the momentum gained throughout this successful season into next year and make CCS in back-to-back years.
“We had a really good season,” Spendlove said. ”It’s a bummer how it ended but we should be proud of what we did. I hope to do it all again and this time go farther in CCS.”
