Boys’ soccer: Star senior does not fall short

At 5’5”, senior center midfielder Rajiv Ramakabir is not the biggest player on the field, nor is he the fastest or the strongest, but that has not stopped him from being one of the star players on a talented varsity boys’ soccer team.

Ramakabir began playing soccer in second grade. After excelling in a recreational soccer league for a couple of years, he decided to take his game to the next level by joining a competitive club team.

Keeping an open mind, Ramakabir has traveled to different clubs in his competitive soccer career in an attempt to find the team that suits his style of play the most.

“I started out playing for DeAnza Force and then I went to a team in Santa Clara and I came back to Force before joining Adam Clarke’s [the school’s boys’ varsity soccer coach] club team in Sunnyvale,” Ramakabir said.

Ramakabir has been contacted by the coach of UC Santa Barbara, a NCAA Division 1 soccer team and known for its outstanding soccer program. Ramakabir is keeping that option open as he evaluates different colleges.

“I have a chance of walking on there [UC Santa Barbara] if I choose to attend that school,” Ramakabir said.

Looking toward the season, Ramakabir is confident that the team still has a shot at achieving their first-place hopes in league despite the team’s lackluster start.

On Jan. 13 the team took on Palo Alto at home. The game ended as a 3-0 win with goals scored by junior midfielder Rohan Rajeev, junior center midfielder Amin Mirzadagen and Ramakabir himself.

The second league game was scheduled to be an away game against Gunn; however, due to confusion in the scheduling of the game, the Falcons failed to show up on Jan. 6. The game will be counted as a 3-0 loss for the Falcons unless the game is able to be rescheduled.

In the team’s first league game on Jan. 4, they faced off against Mountain View at home. The game took place over the winter break. As a result, eight starters were out of town, and on top of this, senior goalie Kyle Clark was unable to play. Facing steep odds, the Falcons fell 5-0.
Ramakabir said there is still great room for improvement for the team.

“I think that the main thing that we need to work on right now is our chemistry,” Ramakabir said. “For the seniors that have been playing varsity since they were sophomores, this chemistry is already there but, we still need to develop that chemistry with the current sophomores and juniors.”

Ramakabir and the soccer team are not letting the early results of the season determine the rest of the season.

“Our first two games were very unfortunate results, but these losses just mean that we need to go 10-0 in the rest of the season games and this team is very capable of that,” Ramakabir said.