On Dec. 11, Aragon’s boys soccer (2-4-3 overall, 1-3 Peninsula Bay League) tied Menlo (5-1-3 overall, 1-1 West Bay Athletic League) 2-2 with a major comeback in the second half.
The Dons were down 0-2 in the second half with 20 minutes left in the game. Junior forward and midfielder Zane Stokesberry scored a penalty awarded from a foul that changed the momentum of the game. The two teams battled throughout the second half until the last two minutes of the game, when Stokesberry scored a long shot assisted by a pass from junior forward Roman Misner, tying the game at 2-2.
In the first half, both teams had a strong offense and defense. Aragon was able to shoot twice on Menlo without defensive pressure, but Menlo’s goalie had two strong saves. Hopes were high for the Dons. However, Menlo took a corner and a header from an Aragon player dropped the ball on the ground, allowing a Menlo player to score, ending the first half 1-0.
“[Our mindset] was really positive in the beginning,” said sophomore defender Levi Kikuchi. “Once the goal was put in, [there was] definitely some doubt going through my mind, but we just regrouped after halftime and then we went back in even harder than we did in the first half.”
The Dons are familiar with last minute goals from their opponents, so they knew what they needed to do in order to turn the game around.
“Our last game on Monday, we lost [in] the 90th minute,” Stokesberry said. “So we’re working on keeping our heads up, so we didn’t really let that bring us down too much and we stayed positive.”
The Dons had to adjust to Menlo’s effective positioning and organization.
“They’re organized, they have a game plan, and they stick to it,” said Aragon head coach Greg Markoulakis. “It made it hard for us to keep the ball, so we had to play very defensive and look to counter. I think something we’ve been working on. It’s always hard when you don’t have a lot of the ball, but we did good at staying in the game and not giving up.”
Going into the second half, Aragon changed their strategy to accommodate for Menlo’s style of play and were able to adjust their pressure in order to force more turnovers and create more opportunities to break through Menlo’s strong back line.
“Menlo had a pretty good, pretty solid build up they were breaking us down pretty well in the first half, but we solved that in the second half and they had to resort to long passes,” Stokesberry said. “From the first half to the second half, [we] opened up the game a lot more. Especially [since] everyone was tired, they gave us the opportunity to play with the ball more and find more opportunities.”
Overall, Aragon is working towards making their defense stronger for the next game.
“I’d just make sure that when we’re in the box, you gotta markup with people just so that no one’s open,” Kikuchi said. “So there’s no chance. Leave no room for error.”
The Dons’ next game is against Menlo-Atherton (2-2-3 overall, 2-1 PBL) at home on Jan. 15.
