Soccer Shoots For Playoffs, Finding CCS at Goal
Season improvements take boys' to semifinals and girls' to quarterfinals.
By Rizwan Khan
Season improvements take boys' to semifinals and girls' to quarterfinals.
By Rizwan Khan
Mustang soccer went for an impressive run this past season with girls’ varsity making it to CCS quarterfinals with a 16-3-2 record, and boys’ varsity winning the league and making it to CCS semifinals with a 16-3-1 record.
Junior Julian Hamod has been playing soccer since he was three years old and enjoys the sport because of the competitiveness and the memories that have come with it.
“My favorite moment of this season was when we found out we won the league, two games before the end of the regular season,” said Hamod.
Both the boys’ and girls’ soccer teams made significant improvements since their previous season, with the boys’ ending last season with a 4-9-5 record and the girls’ ending last season with a 5-10-4 record.
Patricia Acoba, 11, believes that the communication between the players with both offense and defense and good leadership is what helped them elevate this season and attain success.
“Communication was easy because we had good leadership. Abbie Mackintosh is a huge leader on the team. She is a senior who ensures everyone is comfortable and doing their best even when they feel like they aren’t having their best game or practice,” said Acoba.
Sophomore Owen Helm feels that the team had a strong bond this season and it allowed them to push each other and work better together.
“Our leaders were Ivan Valchuk and Carlos Lopez. They were team captains and were really good at getting us to focus and work hard. That was definitely one of the differences between winning and losing for us,” said Helm.
Forward Ivan Valchuk, 12 has been playing soccer since he was five years old and enjoys the fact that it is very much a team sport.
“Each player has a purpose on the field and the only way the team can succeed is if we put all those pieces together. There have been massive improvements this season, the quality of soccer that we were able to produce on the field was immense. Right people at the right time. It's a great factor of why we were so successful this season,” said Valchuk.
When the season started Hamod worried about the level of success they could attain due to how young the team was however he didn’t let that get in the way of his season.
“Our coaches have drilled the mentality to never look ahead in the future and to take things slow one game at a time,” said Hamod.
That same mentality helped Acoba and her teammates be more focused and competitive against difficult teams.
“I would say our hardest opponent was Mountain View but my favorite team to compete against is Leland because it’s always a good hard battle between us,” said Acoba.
While Valchuk will graduate after this year, he is excited to see the team go to work next season.
“I wish each one of my teammates nothing but the best and hope to come back next year and watch them ball out even more,” said Valchuk.
Junior Julian Hamod has been playing soccer since he was three years old and enjoys the sport because of the competitiveness and the memories that have come with it.
“My favorite moment of this season was when we found out we won the league, two games before the end of the regular season,” said Hamod.
Both the boys’ and girls’ soccer teams made significant improvements since their previous season, with the boys’ ending last season with a 4-9-5 record and the girls’ ending last season with a 5-10-4 record.
Patricia Acoba, 11, believes that the communication between the players with both offense and defense and good leadership is what helped them elevate this season and attain success.
“Communication was easy because we had good leadership. Abbie Mackintosh is a huge leader on the team. She is a senior who ensures everyone is comfortable and doing their best even when they feel like they aren’t having their best game or practice,” said Acoba.
Sophomore Owen Helm feels that the team had a strong bond this season and it allowed them to push each other and work better together.
“Our leaders were Ivan Valchuk and Carlos Lopez. They were team captains and were really good at getting us to focus and work hard. That was definitely one of the differences between winning and losing for us,” said Helm.
Forward Ivan Valchuk, 12 has been playing soccer since he was five years old and enjoys the fact that it is very much a team sport.
“Each player has a purpose on the field and the only way the team can succeed is if we put all those pieces together. There have been massive improvements this season, the quality of soccer that we were able to produce on the field was immense. Right people at the right time. It's a great factor of why we were so successful this season,” said Valchuk.
When the season started Hamod worried about the level of success they could attain due to how young the team was however he didn’t let that get in the way of his season.
“Our coaches have drilled the mentality to never look ahead in the future and to take things slow one game at a time,” said Hamod.
That same mentality helped Acoba and her teammates be more focused and competitive against difficult teams.
“I would say our hardest opponent was Mountain View but my favorite team to compete against is Leland because it’s always a good hard battle between us,” said Acoba.
While Valchuk will graduate after this year, he is excited to see the team go to work next season.
“I wish each one of my teammates nothing but the best and hope to come back next year and watch them ball out even more,” said Valchuk.