Soccer teams hoping to build upon last year’s successes

Boys soccer looks to compete in Bay Division

On Dec. 5, Aragon played its second of six preseason games against the Serra Padres away from home. For most of the game, Aragon’s offense centered around pulling the ball back to the center and surveying the field before making a run towards the goal. Despite trailing 3-0 at halftime, the Dons’ defense was able to hold Padres to one goal in the second half, leading to a 4-0 Serra win.

Following the loss, Head Coach Greg Markoulakis says, “I sensed that [the team was] very quiet the beginning of the game and warm-ups. I thought they were a bit nervous. We talked about that prior to the game and that showed once we started to play.”

However, the game was only a preseason game, and therefore it does not count towards CCS qualifications. The team still has time to make its necessary adjustments for the rest of the season.

Meanwhile, the team looks forward to competing in CCS while the bitter disappointment from missing last year’s tournament by half a point still rests heavily in their minds.

Senior Steve Gomez says, “[Last year, the sports board] only count[ed] the last three games of pre-season for varsity. Some schools have bonus points. But once our coach, Greg, went to a meeting to see if we made it to CCS after the season was over, all the calculations were done and we missed the chance to make it to CCS by a half point. In other words, we were next in line but didn’t get a chance to play.”

Last year, the Dons went 10-1-3 and finished second to Half Moon Bay in the Ocean Division.

An issue for this year’s team is academic ineligibility. Some players were unable to play this season because of failure to satisfy the school’s student athlete requirements which require a student to be passing 25 credits, have no more than one F grade, and have a 2.0 grade point average.

Senior co-captain Jordan Lim replies, “Personally, I am upset by the amount of guys that are ineligible, as it greatly hurts the team. I believe that making grades should not be issue if you love to play soccer. But school and academics should and will always come before.”

Still, many remain positive. Gomez adds, “We have lots of new talents, two of which we’ve nicknamed ‘Double Trouble.’”

When asked about the team’s mentality, Lim answers, “Focused. We are focusing on winning now, not next year, there is no rebuilding, not with the talent that we have on the field.”

Lady Dons open season with big win

Since the Aragon girls varsity girls soccer team captured the CCS championship in 2012, the Lady Dons have held high expectations. After being bounced out of the first round of CCS last year in overtime, Aragon looks to improve on last year’s performance and go deeper in CCS.

The Dons opened their season with a preseason match on Dec. 4 versus El Camino. “We used [this game] as a way of modeling the work we have done and to give our players confidence,” Head Coach Nick Dye says.

In the contest, the Dons had full control of the game from the first whistle to the last. “We had the ball for about 90 to 95 percent of the time and dominated the possession from the first to the last kick,” Dye says.

Having the ball for the majority of the game created countless opportunities for the Dons to score, and by halftime they led by a score of 4-0. In the second half, the Dons continued to dominate the possession, but towards the end of the game played with nine players versus the 11 from El Camino, but they still maintained a high level of play en route to an 8-0 win in their opener.

Dye offers his take on Aragon’s preparation for the upcoming season. “We’d really like to build on last year’s performance. We know how to play out from the backfield at a high tempo, and create a possession-based offense that focuses on having the ball more than the opposition does during the game,” he says.

After finishing many of their games last year in a draw, the team looks to capitalize on their opportunities to put the ball in the net. “Last year we played well, but we’ve really emphasized an attacking mindset in practice to help with our tempo, speed of play and [having] more players forward. If we can create, then we have the opportunity for more goals.”
“I believe that our team can be the standout sports team from Aragon this year,” Dye says.