Loyola’s varsity soccer team opened up the season at home against Santa Ana high school. After a tough loss last year in the CIF Division 1 finals to Mira Costa, The Cubs are set on winning it all this year. A key to winning this year is to “stay focused and maintain a positive attitude” as Senior Erik Estrada mentioned. Another is “having patience and working hard” said Senior Adrian Camacho. The team was very excited to take the field for their first season game looking for a win. 

First half 

40 minutes on the clock and the ref blows the whistle. Santa Ana starts with possession. Both teams start off strong. With 37 minute left Santa Ana gets a ball through the midfielders but Senior Joe Padden is quick to react and performs a clean slide tackle to stop the play. Loyola takes possession and dribbles it up. At minute 32 Loyola is given a penalty due to a ruff push from a Santa Ana player. Senior Alejandro Sanchez takes the penalty but the ball is a bit too high and bounces off the crossbar and goes out. Both teams are showing strong performance looking for an error by the opposite team to make their mark. With 27 minutes left, Santa Ana dribbles up the ball and takes a nice shot on goal but Junior Max Matthews dives for a great save. Lots of shots on goal by both teams hungry for the win. Both teams are really showing how good their offense and defense are. At the end of the half the score remained 0-0. 

Second half 

Another 40 minutes on the clock. Both teams went into the second half looking to make something happen to take the victory. During the half, Coach Walter spoke to his players and emphasized “getting faster passes and connecting those passes.” Loyola started with possession and you could tell that they were starting to play more organized and connecting passes. Loyola started out strong and you could see Santa Ana was starting to get frustrated. The second half was full of emotions and both teams were looking for any small opportunity to open up the score. As time ran out Santa Ana became a bit more aggressive causing Loyola to pick up their pace and defend any balls Santa Ana was trying to get through. At the 15-minute mark, time became both teams' enemy and a hint of frustration was seen as both teams were fouling more than before. With 5 minutes left, both teams started playing more defensive and tried to end the game with a draw. The whistle blew and the game was over. The score remained 0-0 and gave Loyola its first draw of the season. 

The Next Game

Loyola takes on the field on Thursday December 2nd against the Cathedral Phantoms at 6:00 pm on Smith Field.