Varsity Soccer Undefeated

As of mid-season, Cistercian Varsity Soccer has won every single game, only allowing three goals, two of which were from free kicks. Every game our defense prevents the other team from even having one decent shot on goal.

Although we are currently undefeated, we have suffered some recent injuries. Christian Schommer, half way through the game against the Dallas Christian School, was horrendously fouled at midfield by the other team. He separated his shoulder and the defender received a red card. Luckily this game took place right before the winter break giving him a chance to recover. Kyle Blessing, the right back, tore his ACL in the last fifteen minutes of the same game! He will be out for the remainder of the season and will be missed.

Varsity’s first game back after the Christmas break was against The Oakridge School, one of the hardest teams we play this season. We had been training the entire winter break so we were ready for the game.

We arrived at Oakridge about half an hour before the game and began to warm up. It was incredibly cold and the sun went down soon after we arrived doing nothing to help the temperature. The referee blew the whistle and the fight began. Oakridge was by far one of the most aggressive teams we have played this season. Both teams were colliding into each other trying to win the ball. Seven minutes into the game, Conner Blend took a quick throw to Evan Anderson on the far, left side of the field about five yards outside the box. Evan jumped up and volleyed the ball right over the keeper’s head, putting us up one to zero very early on in the game. Evan has a quite a bit of soccer talent.  Although he only started playing club soccer three years ago, his passion and dedication helped him to develop his talent for the game as he continued to work at soccer with his own private coach. Not long after the first goal, Evan received the ball towards the middle of the field. He beat his man and took a beautiful shot with his left foot from about the twenty-yard line. The shot slid past the keeper on the right and went in, putting us up two to zero before the half. Going into the second half, we were confident, calm and collected. Our defense was so strong that we prevented them from having any real chances at goal the entire game. The second half remained scoreless until the last fifteen minutes of the game. Caleb punted the ball down field and the ball was flicked to David Navarro who had an amazing first touch down the right side of the field. He hit the ball passed the defender and in order for the defender to stop him, the defender fouled David in what seemed to be inside the box! Everyone thought that the foul was inside the box including the other team, yet the referee apparently thought otherwise. Evan went up to take the kick. The free kick was too far to the right of the field for Evan to shoot so he instead decided to perform a rabona kick to cross the ball. The ball was crossed perfectly across the center of the goal. Oscar Anderhub came out of nowhere and headed the ball down perfectly to where the keeper could not reach it. We finished the game with a decisive three to zero victory.

This game was special not only for the team but for Coach Walsh. This game was Coach Walsh’s 200th soccer game as a coach for Cistercian Soccer. Congratulations Coach Walsh! For this reason, we wanted to win this game more than ever. Coach Walsh not only coaches our team, but he puts us in the best position to win possible. He is constantly observing other teams play so that we know what to expect when we play them.  We were proud to serve up a win for his 200th game and will continue to serve up wins for him and the school.