Following intermittent rainfall on Friday afternoon, the Dons (3-5-1 overall, 0-3-1 Peninsula Athletic League) faced off against Menlo-Atherton (5-3-2 overall, 3-0-1 PAL) and lost 2-0.
Throughout the game, the Bears found many opportunities to score and had quite a few clear shots, but Aragon’s senior goalie, Emerson Zaragoza Padilla, made more than four saves in the second quarter.
“We all developed a sense of desperation [because] we are the last place team in the league and need to start picking up our game … [In] our match against MA, the top team in the league, I think that desperation was crucial to push our team towards its limit and allow us to play and compete with them,” said senior defense player Alex Yan.
Starting the second half, both teams began to pick up the pace of the game to clear the tied score of 0-0. About five minutes after the second half began, the score was lifted off of a self goal on behalf of the Dons.
“[The ball] bounced off [senior Jude Concepcion]’s leg and went right into the goal,” said senior captain and midfield Sergio Zavala Sanchez.
The goal seemed to wake the Dons up a little and they began to play a much more competitive game. Although the ball continued to bounce back and forth between both teams, the Dons managed to connect more passes and had much less turnovers. The Dons also made a much larger effort in fighting for the ball.
“We did start off pretty bad but we knew [that] once we got [scored] on … we [had] to pick it [up]. We [had] to start talking,” Sanchez said. “That’s when the intensity went up but it should have went up a long time ago.”
The efforts of the Dons had not gone unnoticed though. A few tricks and through balls brought the Dons closer to the goal, but they were still unable to score.
“We just had a lot of bad luck finishing [and] scoring goals,” Sanchez said.
Yan agrees with Sanchez.
“Recently, we have been in drought for goals and part of that comes from not being able to capitalize our advantages with the ball offensively,” Yan said.
As the game progressed, it became apparent that the Bears were crowding the Don’s defensive side. Though both teams found opportunities to score, the Bears managed to bring the ball up the field and into their offensive half more frequently.
While the ball bounced back and forth in the Don’s box, the Bears managed to score another goal off a rebound.
“There was [an offensive MA player] running down the middle and no one was on him, so then he found the open space and took a shot, but it actually rebounded off a player’s leg which hit the bottom right post and went in,” Sanchez said.
The Dons will be playing against Half Moon Bay (2-8-1 overall, 0-4-1 PAL) on Jan. 18.
