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Warriors Continues Winning Ways, Drops Piedmont Hills 12/4
The
Valley Christian boys soccer team travelled to Piedmont Hills Thursday
to take on the Pirates in the second of three public school matchups
this week.
The weather was ideal, and the new Piedmont Hills stadium
is about as perfect a scene for a game as possible. With no track
around the field, the fans are right in the action.
The Warriors, coming off a 3-1 win against Westmont were
looking to continue the 2 game winning streak. Piedmont Hills
fielded a solid team, coached by Eric Gaspar. The Pirates went
deep in CCS last season before losing to perennial power, and WCAL
champs, Bellarmine.
The game started off with the teams trying to feel the
other side out. In the 20th minute, Alex de Leon put the Warriors
on the board.
Senior center back, Jake Joseph, played a long ball to Alex, and got a
fortunate bounce past the Pirates' defender. Alex took over from
there, using his speed to beat the three Piedmont Hills defenders before
chipping the ball over the sliding 'keeper. 1-0 VC.
Video of the goal
can be seen here.
About seven minutes later, the Warriors' strike force connected again.
Trevor Plug, coming off a hat trick against Westmont, buried his 5th of
the season on a great ball from de Leon. 2-0 VC.
Video of the goal can be
seen here.
The rest of the game went well as the Warriors shutout a very good
Piedmont Hills team. Austin Mansker was only forced to make 3
saves.
This represents a significant change from last season according to coach
John Basanese.
"Last year we relied on Austin to make 5-6 big saves a game to keep us
in it. This year, we've made good progress in limiting the
chances. When you combine a solid defense, with the CCS' best
goalkeeper, we're tough to break down," Basanese said.
"The work that Gizzi, Berding, Jake, and Danny have done back there is
nothing short of phenomenal. Defenders don't usually show up in
the newspaper, but these guys have been the key to our season to this
point. We have lots to work on, but we have a lot of confidence in
those guys back there," Basanese continued.
All of the reserves saw action in the game, another important piece to
the season according to Basanese.
"We have three games this week against three good opponents. Today
I was able to give the starters 60 out of 80 minutes, but rest them for
20. We have such a good bench, I'm confident making wholesale
changes to get guys rest. We don't have let downs when the
reserves are out there. I've never been able to do that here.
It's a great thing for our program," Basanese concluded.
The Warriors will host the Santa Teresa Saints on Saturday in the final
tuneup before WCAL play, which starts next Thursday. The Saints
will be a tough challenge, come out and support the team on Saturday!
A five minute
video highlight from the game can be seen here. The file is
large.
Game Notes: Trevor's goal was his 5th of the season, a
career best.
VCSoccer.com Man of the Match: Jake
Joseph (clean sheet, assist)
| Valley Christian |
2 |
0 |
2 |
| Piedmont Hills |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Scoring Summary:
Alex de Leon (Jake Joseph)
Trevor Plug (Alex de Leon)
VC Starting Lineup: Mansker, Joseph, Berding, Gizzi,
Hittler, Tarangioli, Cordeiro, Rosa-Diniz, Nelson, Plug, de Leon
Game time: 5:15pm
Weather: Perfectly clear |
