Despite Strong Effort, VC Loses to Bellarmine 12/12

The Valley Christian soccer team traveled to Bellarmine to take on the perennial CCS powerhouse Bells.  Though rain had soaked the bay area all morning, the weather began to clear as the team arrived.  Bellarmine's brand new field turf soccer field was in perfect shape for the match.

The Warriors, looking for their first ever win against Bellarmine, started off the game slowly.  The Bells came at VC with constant pressure, forcing freshman goalkeeper Austin Mansker to make 9 first half saves.

"I'll tell you what, that was quite a half by Austin.  Some of those saves were pretty difficult, and he made them look easy," Coach Basanese commented.

Bellarmine showed the disciplined style that VC has fallen victim to in all previous meetings, peppering the VC goal.  However, the teams went to halftime tied at 0-0.

After halftime, things seemed to change for VC.  The players came out in the second half with renewed energy.  The defense continued to keep the ball away from Mansker, limiting the Bellarmine chances to long range shots. 

In the 64th minute, the Warriors nearly broke the deadlock.  Nathan Goldsmith took a free kick from about 40 yards out that found the head of freshman forward Alex de Leon.  Alex's header had the 'keeper beat, but sailed just over the upper corner of the goal. 

"That was a tough break.  From where I was standing, it looked like it'd go into the upper corner.  Alex did a great job of getting his head on that ball.  He's a young player, but he really plays big for us." Basanese said.

With the game nearing the end, and the score still stuck at 0-0, the Bells turned up the heat.  Eventually, with 8 minutes to play they broke through.

A nice cross was partially cleared when a Bellarmine player hit a 'first-time' laser into the upper left corner. 1-0.

"No goalkeeper would've stopped that shot," said Coach Fugate following the game.

After that, the Bells would ride the momentum to two more goals and the game would end 3-0.

At the end of the game, coach Basanese summed it up.

"On paper, it's one of our better showing against Bellarmine.  To be level with a team like that until the last 10 minutes is a great accomplishment.  Clearly, there are things to work on after this game, but there are some good positives."

"I asked the kids to not concede an early goal, and I asked for complete effort.  I got both today, and I'm proud of the way we played."

"My hat's off to Bellarmine, that's a phenomenal program over there.  They have great coaches who do a fantastic job with that team.  They truly have solid players top to bottom."

"Now it's up to us to bounce back from this, and prepare for Serra on Saturday.  That's going to be a very difficult game."

The game against Serra will be @ Serra in San Mateo at 11:00 am.  Please come out to support the team as they look to push their record in league to 3-1 before the break.

Special thanks to Award Winning Photographer John Basanese Sr. for taking photos at the game.  The photos can be found here.

vcsoccer.com man of the match: Austin Mansker (15 saves)

VC Starting Lineup: Mansker, Goldsmith, Seaman, Field, Joseph, Tarangioli, Walitsch, Garrison, Mark, Pereira, Favre

Weather: Calm, wet.

www.vcsoccer.com