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Above: Blake Cardoza brings the ball up against
Riordan. Click here for full picture
Warriors Beat Riordan For First League Win 1/10
In
a strange chain of events, a Valley Christian road game turned into a
home league game, under the lights no less. The change was last
minute, but benefited the Warriors.
"It's tough to play at Riordan. The field is small, and for us to have
a chance to play a league game here under the lights was nice. The
field was in great shape, and I felt like the conditions were awesome.
Also, I was able to watch my JV play a league game (they won), which is
very rare," Coach John Basanese
said after the game.
Injuries played a role in the starting lineup with Danny Hittler and Kevin
Tarangioli being rested with nagging issues.
"We could've played them," Coach
Donny Fugate said, "It just seemed like a good time to rest them
ahead of a really tough game vs. SI on Saturday."
As it turned out, Kyle Grayson got his first WCAL start on Varsity and
he made the most of it with several nice defensive plays.
The Warriors got on the board early when
Nick Reyes took a pass from Alex de
Leon and played a perfect cross into the box where
George Fahmy was waiting. George calmly
slotted the ball past the goalkeeper for his 3rd goal of the season, 2nd
in WCAL play. 1-0 VC.
See a video of the goal here.
VC would remain on the attack for most of the first half,
hounding Riordan's defensive players, something that coach Basanese said
was in the game plan.
"We knew Riordan would look to slow the pace of the game, so we tried to
pressure them in their back to cause turnovers. I thought our forwards
did well with this, and it paid off."
The game would go to the half 1-0 on the scoreboard, but with VC
holding a 8-0 advantage in shots on goal.
Click the videos below for some of the highlights.
Alex de Leon shot
Alex de Leon fouled
Justin Cordeiro falls down
Alex de Leon shot
The second half would start out with more of the same, and eventually
Valley would double their lead with what may be one of the best goals of
the season.
Freshman Justin Cordeiro took the ball and beat his defender
before finding Fahmy's feet. George played a one-time pass to an
onrushing Joseph Rosa-Diniz who took the
ball and dribbled towards goal. As the 'keeper committed to stopping
the shot, Joseph fired a perfect cross to Fahmy who finished it, 2-0 VC.
The goal was a welcome sight for Basanese.
"That was a great goal. The buildup was nice, and what a great
cross and finish. I've been asking the kids to be more creative in
the buildups, and less selfish in our finishing. That had a little of
everything... the kind of goal that makes a coach happy, and it came at
an important time for us."
See the goal here.
Austin Mankser and the defense
played well in the second half, only allowing four shots. One save
stood out to coach Fugate.
"I'm tired of even saying it, but, Austin is a great 'keeper, and that
was a great save."
See the save here.
Towards the end of the game, a ball rolled out of bounds to Basanese,
and while attempting to pass the ball to Kyle Grayson, John played a
shinball.
"You saw it," Basanese said, "It hit the cone and hopped up!"
You be the judge, see the video here.
The lead allowed VC to rest the starters for Saturday's game vs. SI.
When the subs came in, however, they did not lay back. Moments after
entering the game, Britt Nelson played a
superb ball into the box where Trevor Plug
finished, making it 3-0 VC.
Sadly, the video camera ran out of film, and the last goal was not
captured.
Later, Riordan would pull to within 2 goals with a late goal of their
own. That's how it would end, 3-1 in favor of VC.
The Warriors will now shift their focus to St. Ignatius this coming
Saturday, a game that the coaching staff sees as very important.
"I don't really believe that our record shows the type of team we are
this year. We have the talent, we just need to find the desire to
beat teams. I hope that today, the team saw that we can play some
pretty attractive soccer. SI is a solid team, but we are not going
to San Francisco to lay down for them. We're going to give it our
all." Basanese concluded.
John Basanese Sr. took pictures at the game, and
they can be seen by clicking here. Thanks Mr. Basanese!
Game Notes: Kyle Grayson (sophomore) got his the first start of
his varsity career tonight...Trevor Plug scored his first varsity WCAL
goal.
VCSoccer.com Man of the Match: George
Fahmy (2g)
| Riordan |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| Valley Christian |
1 |
2 |
3 |
VC Starting Lineup: Mansker, Walitsch, Cardoza,
Grayson, Cordeiro, Joseph, Christian de Leon, Reyes, Alex de Leon,
Fahmy, Rosa-Diniz
Game time: 4:45pm
Weather: Cloudy, 56 degrees |
