On Feb. 1, Aragon’s girls varsity soccer team (12-3-1 overall, 7-0-1 Peninsula Athletic League) played in the rain against South San Francisco (7-7-4 overall, 2-4-2 PAL), taking home another win with a final score of 4-0.
“We accomplished what we wanted to do,” said head coach Michael Flynn. “One was to win the game … by multiple goals. Our ball movement was good, [which was] something we had talked about: not dribbling as much to get out of pressure; … play[ing] one two touch; and mak[ing] the ball work and pass out of pressure.”
Because of the previous win against South San Francisco six to zero, Aragon was expecting some kind of change in the other team’s strategy.
“Know[ing] that we score a lot of goals, they’re going to try and throw numbers behind the ball and make it difficult for us to score,” Flynn said. “I think they’re looking to play for a tie, and we’re looking to play for a win … to get the ball on frame. So, for us it’s just a matter of again breaking down lines, getting those penetrating balls through those lines and then ultimately … finishing.”
Indeed, Aragon was able to keep the ball to the offensive side and constantly attack, but could not finish their shots.
“We got a lot of shots on goal which is good,” Flynn said. “[However,] we still [have to] work on not always shooting at the goalkeeper or hitting the crossbar.”
The team has been working on improving their shot percentage.
“We’ve been working on shooting in practice,” said senior captain midfielder Nuria Lopez Adorno. “Although [almost] every team we’re playing, we’re beating them 6-0, we are shooting a lot, and the ratio of shots to actual goals is not great. So I think we’ve been focusing more on shooting, to be able to finish and get a better result.”
After multiple shot attempts within 18 minutes in the first half, junior forward Stela Pisaro made a through-ball from the right wing, resulting in an easy goal by another junior forward Sierra Troy making the score 1-0.
Five minutes later, Aragon continued to attack, forcing a corner kick, in which senior forward Abigail Tidwell connected to junior defender Violet Calvo’s header and scored. Aragon’s push did not stop there and persisted with freshman midfielder Emi Lo bringing the ball straight through the defenders and scoring another goal, making the score 3-0.
“We’re obviously pushing for it if not better to show that we’ve taken [the previous] game … and improved on … mistakes we were making before,” Lopez Adorno said. “Not underestimating them even though we won 6-0. We’re still going into this as a new game as if we’ve never played them and we … give it our best.”
The first half ended with the opponent not being able to advance the ball at all and resulted in a couple of fouls.
As the whistle of the second half blew, the rain started to pour, but stopped in a few minutes.
“It’s always difficult to play in the rain,” Flynn said. “The rain is the great equalizer because the ball can skip; someone makes a mistake and all of a sudden the ball is in the back of the net. So … [only] having just a little bit [of rain, compared to the last game against South San Francisco,] was definitely better [because] … they don’t get so cold and tight.”
Regardless of a few goal attempts by South San Francisco, the majority of the time the ball was on the opponent’s side, but could not connect it to the goal with them merely focusing on defense.
”They threw their numbers in the back,” Flynn said. “[However,] the team has been very resilient, very patient with the ball and not trying to force a ball. [Additionally,] for our backline and our goalkeepers in the game like today, they didn’t get a lot of touches on the ball, but just stayed involved in the game, being focused so that you don’t make a mistake when they do get into our backline. I’m proud they were able to do it.”
With a few minutes left on the clock, junior midfielder Kaia Smith gave an assist to Troy’s brace, ending the game 4-0. Although the scores do not show it, Flynn saw some improvements from the previous game against South San Francisco.
“It’s a work in progress, but they’re finally starting to communicate more,” Flynn said. “There’s some simple things that they need to be able to say, like ‘time,’ ‘turn,’ [and] ‘man on’…They’re hearing it from me off the bench quite a bit, and so they’re finally starting to tell each other…I like to say, ‘you are the eyes in the back of their head, let them know what’s going on when they can’t see it.’”
In terms of future goals for their season, it has not changed since the preseason: to win Central Coast Section championships.
“A couple of days ago we played against Crystal and they’re definitely going to be a league champion [in their league,] and…we won 2-1 at the very end,” said senior midfielder Bailey Wong. “Just seeing us win proves our determination that we can make it through.”
As they are expecting to make CCS, there are some things that Flynn is experimenting with.
“At this point we’re looking to do a bit more subbing,” Flynn said. “As we get closer to potential playoffs to see what kind of depth we have in certain positions, and who can play where … [which might] disrupt the chemistry a little bit when I’m pulling players off, but it [is] important.”
Obviously, losing in the CCS championship finals last year and being championship caliber this season make this season’s goal to be the CCS champion, but another factor comes into play.
“Nuria Lopez Adorno, she’s the only senior on our team who has played all four years for us,” Flynn said. “For us, for me, in particular, it’d be really nice to see us finish on a high note with a championship for a player who’s really been … the engine, the playmaker of our team for the last four years and to finish with a championship, would kind of crown her four years here, and put her stamp on this team.”
The next game Aragon soccer will be participating in is at Nueva on Feb. 3 at 1:00 p.m.
