For a team with a mostly disappointing recent history within SMHS, our boys soccer team has gotten off to perhaps the most surprising start for a school athletics team this year. Spearheaded by a brand new coach staff led by Coach Oswaldo Monroy, who used to coach the team prior to COVID, the team has found immense preseason success, rocketing off to an undefeated record of 3-0-2.
The team got off to a roaring hot start with a 3-0 win at home against Don Bosco Tech, the first time since COVID where they’ve won their first game of the season. While the match was initially drawn 0-0 at halftime, the team always felt like they had the upper hand. “We had a lot great scoring opportunities and the other team didn’t have a single shot on goal in the entire first half,” Anh Vu, 9, said. In the second half, the team continued to maintain that high-intensity offensive pressure they displayed in the first half and two goals from Kaihan Hashimi, 9, and Madden Darling, 10, sealed the win for the Titans.
They continued this momentum with another win, this time away at Southlands Christian high school. Like their game against Don Bosco Tech, the team always felt like they had the upper hand, especially after two phenomenal goals from Santiago Monroy, 11, and Ryan Lee, 11, which iced the game right away. The team finished the rest of the game with poise and control and ended the game 3-0 with a late goal from Kainen Desai, 10.
Following these two 3-0 wins, boys soccer went on to earn two hard earned draws, a tightly contested 1-1 match against Mark Keppel High School and a nailbiter 3-3 match against Calvary Chappel, which featured a hattrick performance from Desai. While the team felt like they could have one both matches, especially after squandering numerous key chances in both games, both ties serve as a testament to the incredible progress and improvements the team has made this season. In years prior, boys soccer had suffered big losses against both schools (7-1 and 4-2 against Mark Keppel and 3-1 against Calvary Chappel) so having that feeling of being able to win is a major step forward.
However, the team’s most impressive performance came on December 12 where they managed to nick a 1-0 win against Glendale high school with impressive showings from center backs Jaeden Kusuma, 12, and Ryan Lee, 12, and a scorching headed goal off a corner kick from team captain Diego Garcia, 12. “I honestly wasn’t expecting the ball to arrive to me because Glendale was a physical team and I thought they would mark me tighter,” Garcia said. “I thought we really carried out Coach Ozzy’s gameplan of sitting back and taking advantage of Glendale’s mistakes.”
Going into winter break, the team is looking to maintain their undefeated record and carry that momentum into league, where they will hopefully exceed previous years’ successes.
