by Miles E and Giuseppe P, staff writers
After a successful and impressive season, which included a record of 11-7-4 and a last minute quarter final win against Washington High School, the Galileo boys soccer team saw their season’s heartbreaking end in the semi-finals with a 1-0 loss against Thurgood Marshall High School on Thursday February 23rd.
The Lions came into the game against Marshall riding a wave of momentum after a last minute winner from junior Allan V. gave the Lions a 1-0 against Washington Tuesday, February 21st; however, the team was not able to duplicate the results against the Phoenix.
The semifinal game was the 3rd encounter the Lions had with the Marshall Phoenix, with the first encounter ending with a scrappy 2-0 victory for the Galileo boys, and their second a back-and-forth 0-0 draw. The brutality and rough play of the first two games was proof of what the Lions would find in their semi final matchup.
The first half of the game was evenly matched, with very heavy pressure from Marshall on the Galileo defense, and some chances to score off of free kicks and corners from the Lions, but with neither team being able to score.
Once the second half hit however, Marshall began to dominate the game and their rough style of play, and with the wind against them, the Lions found themselves being pinned down, which eventually resulted in a goal for Marshall.
The aggressive and violent style of play from Marshall led to many Gal players coming off with injuries, followed by frustration which caused several fouls, one of them resulting in a red card for a Galileo player.
From there, there was nothing the Lions could do to get the leveling goal. “After they scored the goal, they started wasting time which frustrated us and caused players to get sent off and us just losing our head,” said captain Logan T., when asked about the issues they encountered in the match. “Defensively we were strong throughout the whole game but we could’ve possessed the ball a lot more” said Coach Mendoza reflecting on the game. “Overall we got 3rd in the league which you gotta be happy with, but we were obviously disappointed we didn’t win.”
“Although we didn’t manage to make it to the final and bring home the trophy, it was a very happy season,” says Captain Adam B. “The season felt very community oriented and the team felt like a family,” adding, “Next year we are for sure going to build upon the season this year, and hopefully get higher than third and maybe even win the championship.”
