The boys soccer team (6-4-8 overall, 4-2-6 Peninsula Athletic League) tied Menlo-Atherton (8-7-4 overall, 7-2-3 PAL) 1-1, coming back from 1-0 down with a goal by senior striker and fullback Jacob Zlobinsky.
“[Senior midfielder and forward] Adrian [Braanemark] had that corner and sent it across to me. He was able to find me at the top of the 6-yard box,” Zlobinsky said. “Even though it deflected a little bit off of one of their defenders, I was still able to score.”
Throughout the chaos and with the majority of both teams crammed in the Bears’ 18-yard box, Zlobinsky was able to follow the script head coach Gregory Markoulakis had assigned.
“We had a set play,” Markoulakis said. “It was our stack three where the ball goes to the far post and Jacob made the proper run and Adrian sent it to the perfect place.”
Throughout the game, the Dons struggled to connect passes leading to a few turnovers.
“There were a lot of forced passes,” said freshman midfield and forward Zane Stokesberry. “Menlo-Atherton had a high pressure.”
Another factor that caused the Dons to lose possession of the ball was their touches. The Dons had mostly used one- touch strategy throughout the game, which made it hard to control the ball, as it was a fast paced game.
“Our emphasis during practice [was] reducing the touches to two, three touches in the back,” Markoulakis said. “I think I got it into them a little too much perhaps.”
In the first half of the game, both the Dons and Bears played aggressively on offense. However, a miscommunication by the Dons led to an own goal by senior center back Eric Shen.
“Our defender had the ball and he thought that the goalkeeper was going to clear it,” Markoulakis said. “The goalkeeper told him to ‘away,’ which is the command to move, and he didn’t … so there was a miscommunication with both.”
Season update
Starting this season, the boys soccer team (6-3-7 overall, 4-1-5 Peninsula Athletic League) found themselves in a series of ties. Struggling to finish their plays, the Dons began to overcome their hardship with a win against their rival Hillsdale.
“As individuals, we need to work on our finishing,” said freshman forward and midfield Zane Stokesberry. “With so many games ending in ties, it is clear that we’re not scoring enough goals,”
Although the Dons have a hard time placing the ball into the back of the net, it’s not challenging for them to build up for a shot.
“As a team, we create a lot of chances but we’ve been struggling to put them away in the crucial moments of the game,” Stokesberry said.
Aside from that, the Dons feel capable of working together a play that could end in a goal.
“We have the chemistry to score goals,” said junior forward and midfield Sergio Zavala Sanchez. “It’s just, we need to want it more than we usually do.”
Apart from their struggles, the Dons find strength in their defense.
“We [have] the strongest defense in the league so it’s a good advantage to have,” Zavala Sanchez said.
One of the main reasons for a loss of goals is the team’s lack of fluidity.
“[We] lack movement and [have a hard time] dropping back to defend as a unit,” Zavala Sanchez said.
In preparation to games, the team occasionally focuses on drills to improve their agility and ability in completing a clean shot. When specifically focusing on scoring, the team works on moving the ball around the box and taking a shot.
“For a shooting drill, it involves passing and one touch finishing which involves a total of 3 passes then a shot,” Sanchez said.
Although this drill is not done often, it can typically be done one day in advance to their game.
“[We] normally a day before a game at training depending on whether we need it or not,” Zavala Sanchez said.
In addition to working on their shooting, the boys place more emphasis on possession of the ball.
“We need to work on possessing the ball, especially in the middle third of the field. Often times we play very direct, and skip over the midfield which can result in a chaotic game,” said Stokesberry.
Although some others may say keeping possession of the ball is not a hardship, they continue to improve and excel in their ability to keep the ball.
“[A] strength is definitely possession of the ball. As soon as we lose the ball we get it right back,” Sanchez said.
To work on possession, three teams of six will separate and play possession with the ball.
To help the areas of improvement and to strengthen the team’s advantages, head coach Gregory Markoulakis has taken a different approach this year.
“It is a more defensive counter-attacking system,” Markoulakis said. “Our first goal scorers [Christian Torres, Ricky Diaz, Liam Laird, Anthony Sandoval and Dakota Severson] graduated last year so we went to a more counter-attacking [system] to absorb the attack and then counter to protect ourselves.”
Unlike the past few years, the team has been focusing more on defense rather than playing aggressively. Although the team continues to strive to play aggressively, the counter-attacking strategy and the players’ abilities restrain them from achieving both a strong defense and offense.
In addition to a new strategy this year, Markoulakis also revealed a higher acceptance percentage into varsity.
“Normally we only bring up two underclassmen,” Markoulakis said. “[This season] we brought [up] six… because there’s going to be a void next year and if they’re not exposed to the level, there’s a big transition period because the speed of play is so much faster.”
Even with six underclassmen on varsity, the majority of the team is still made up of seniors. With 15 seniors on the team, making it onto varsity is extremely competitive.
“Around 18 to 20 [players are cut each season],” Markoulakis said.
Another approach Markoulakis has taken this year is practicing on the tennis courts.
“Because some of the players are hurt, we have a [lighter] practice,” Markoulakis said. “More skills practice [at the tennis courts] as opposed to doing other things that we would do.”
To the team and coach, staying strong and healthy is taken seriously. As an aftermath of club fall soccer, on average, seven boys were out injured per game. Taking this into consideration, Markoulakis created more practices on the tennis courts this season.
Both on and off the field, team captains Sergio Zavala Sanchez, Guadalupe Hernandez-Hernandez, Josh Pearlman and Nicholas Delmonico are held responsible to be a positive role model for the boys.
“[My role is to] speak up if I want something fixed, and just speak on the field,” said senior forward and midfield Guadalupe Hernandez-Hernandez.
Up next, the Dons will take on Sequoia (8-7-3 overall, 6-4-2 PAL) on Feb. 14.
