|
Ramirez Opens High School Career With Game Tying Goal (11/20)
As the Valley Christian Soccer
program grows, it is tougher and tougher for an underclassman to make
the varsity team. This year has been the toughest, with only one
freshman, and four sophomores on the squad. Philip Ramirez, just a few
weeks into his varsity career has already made an impact.
The Valley Christian Warriors
made their season debut Thursday, hosting The King’s Academy. TKA
traditionally has played their soccer in the Fall, but this year they
have switched to the winter like most of the other CCS schools. The
matchup has been long talked about, and it definitely had some exciting
moments.
After a pre-game prayer with both teams, the game
began. Valley Christian controlled the run of play, but TKA did well to
pressure the backs with counter attacks. The game would turn in TKA’s
favor in the 30th minute.
The Knights won a corner kick down in the VC end.
The player swung in a dangerous free-kick that found its way to an
unmarked player who finished it from inside the 6 yard box. 1-0 TKA.
A shocked Valley Christian
attempted to regain control, despite going down a goal. The ‘first game
jitters’ were evident for VC as they worked to establish a rhythm,
playing a new formation.
The game would go to halftime 1-0 in favor of the
Knights. The coaching staff made a few personnel adjustments in an
attempt to get back into the game. The second half was a much better
show.
The Warriors held possession in the back, and worked the ball all around
the field. James Gizzi, and
Danny Hittler made several
dangerous runs forward, and did well to feed the ball to the forwards.
The goals would just not come.
The Knight’s goalkeeper made
several key saves to deny Kevin Tarangioli,
Alex de Leon,
Trevor Plug, and Joseph Rosa-Diniz. The
VC keeper, Austin Mansker did not
face any shots in the second half.
With the game coming to a close,
Philip Ramirez checked into the game. In the 75th minute, Hittler found
Ramirez on the left side of the 18 yard box. Philip beat his defender
and fired a low shot at the goal. The ‘keeper, who had been great all
day, misjudged the ball, and it squirted through his legs. Philip opened
his high school account with a game tying goal, 1-1.
“Philip is a kid we have high
expectations for, that’s why he’s on varsity. He loves the game, and he
shows it in his play. I have a lot of respect for him for even taking
that shot. Sometimes the young kids are intimidated, but give him
credit. He put it on frame, and he scored the tying goal. There are no
lucky goals in my book,” coach John
Basanese said following the game.
The video of the
goal can be seen here.
The Warriors would furiously
pepper the TKA defense, but the Knights held strong, and the game ended
1-1.
Though the result was not ideal, there were many positives to take from
the game.
“We obviously would’ve liked to take this game, but
give The King’s Academy a lot of credit. They really impressed me with
their organization, and there are some kids over there who do a great
job,” Basanese said.
“We were rusty, big time. Once we settled in, and
played the way we’ve been coaching all pre-season, we played a very
entertaining, possession oriented game. We need to be better in the
final third, and this would’ve been a different result. We’re
encouraged…this is a very strong team, but we have a lot to improve on,”
Basanese concluded.
The Warriors will have four great opportunities to
work on the lapses. The team will travel to San Francisco tomorrow night
to play in the WCAL Jamboree. In the Jamboree, the team will play 3
short, meaningless games where the focus is getting the rust off.
Then the team will host Concord
in a practice game on Saturday at noon. Come out and check out that
game, at Valley Christian.
Video highlights from
the game can be found here.
Game Notes:
- Philip Ramirez scored the first goal of his Valley Christian career,
in his first Varsity game...as a freshman.
- VC outshot TKA 14 - 6
- Chaz Ballard, Justin Berding, Philip Ramirez, and Ian Karlsson saw
action for the first time on varsity.
VCSoccer.com Man of the Match: Philip
Ramirez (Game tying goal)
| The King's Academy |
1 |
0 |
1 |
| Valley Christian |
0 |
1 |
1 |
VC Starting Lineup: Mansker, Joseph, Berding,
Grayson, Ruiz, Tarangioli, Cordeiro, Nelson, de Leon, Rosa-Diniz, Plug
Game time: 3:15
Weather: Partly cloudy, chilly |
|
