Palo Alto High School boys’ soccer team has started their league season with mixed results with a win against rivals Los Altos High School on Jan. 8 and a loss against league powerhouse Mountain View High School on Jan. 17. They tied against both Santa Clara High School and Saratoga High School on Jan.10 and Jan.15, respectively.
Although they had lost against Mountain View when they faced them during the preseason, the team was hopeful that their second meeting would turn out better.
Senior Cina Vacir and junior Xavier Sherer both scored goals in the second half to overcome an early game deficit, winning the second half 2-1. However, the the 0-2 first half deficit proved to be too great to overcome.
“We knew we had a chance this game,” junior Wesley Woo said. “[We] would have to come out hard.”
Although Mountain View was missing a key player due to injuries, the Spartans were able to capitalize on the mistakes made by the Vikings early in the game and the Vikings were not able to recover.
“We let down our focus three times, and they scored all three of those times,” Woo said.
Despite the loss the team is hopeful moving forward.
“Our team is gradually getting better,” sophomore Dami Bolarinwa said. “We’re looking to push ourselves at practice and get the team moral back up.”
Coach Donald Briggs also recognized the importance of a quick reversal of momentum after the loss.
“It’s the last two games of the first half so I hope we get competitive and end on a good note,” Briggs said. “We have competed in every game; every game has been close.”
He also addressed the youth of the team, highlighting the benefits of having a large contingency of young players, rather than focusing on their inexperience.
“Our strength is that we are versatile, [the] kids can play a lot of different positions,” Briggs said. “Sometimes we can score a lot, sometimes we score a little. This isn’t really a weakness but we are still young, we sometimes [have] little let downs that happen when you are younger, but once you get mature it doesn’t happen.”
The Vikings will play Los Altos on Wednesday at Paly.
