Caption: PACA Warrior Jun Yoshikawa battles for control of the ball against his Chapel Trojan opponent. [by Violet Smoak]
by Cristina Meier, Ph.D.
The first soccer match for the PACA Varsity boys against the Chapel Trojans started off with a slight breeze and misty rain in what would become a defeat for the Warriors on their first home game with a score of 2 to 8.
The first two goals by chapel happened within the first two minutes of the game. Each time, PACA’s defense wasn’t in place to keep the ball from making it past goalkeeper, sophomore Luke Meier.
PACA made its first goal at 16 minutes when senior Dylan Meira took a shot into the net. This was followed by a close call after senior Felipe Pedrozo was fouled and PACA was awarded a free kick at 19:30. Senior Nicholas Vergara kicked the ball over the Trojan defense, and Meira tried to complete the pass with a header, but missed the net.
Chapel took this advantage to take the ball back down the field while PACA’s defense was down to score a third goal at 20:10. PACA made a valiant effort to bring the ball back down to the other side of the field, but Pedrozo was fouled again, giving Chapel its first yellow card of the day. Chapel managed to get one more goal before the end of the first half to bring the score to 1:4.
The second half of the game continued with frustration for our PACA warriors. Only one more Warrior goal was earned while Chapel managed to get four more goals past their defense.
It was a disappointing game for the Warrior community, but these athletes have high hopes for regaining momentum with more practice and experience in the near future.
