Yesterday, January 11th, the varsity team achieved a stunning victory against Harvard Westlake. Although the varsity team did not have the home-field advantage, they scored four goals while Harvard Westlake only scored one.

Scoring three goals in the first half, Loyola had an extremely successful start. Team Captain Henry Smith-Hastie made the first goal at 3:00. Smith-Hastie said, “I passed the ball out wide and Harry Walker was able to get a great cross off and I made a good run and when I was open, I hit the ball in the top right corner of the goal.”

Senior Ben Beuerlein scored the second goal of the game at 20:03. “After one of our teammates made a free kick, the ball came towards me and I swung my left leg. The ball hit the outside of my left cleat and then just looped over the goalie,” said Beuerlein.

Smith Hastie, scoring again at 24:30, said, “The goalkeeper made a good save on the first shot and then he deflected it out to me and I finished it.”

In the second half, Senior Eric Arreola scored one final goal for Loyola and Harvard Westlake scored their only goal of the game.

The team’s success in the first half allowed for Coach Walters to sub in some players on the bench. Smith-Hastie said, “A lot of players waited so long for an opportunity to play and they came in and they proved themselves tonight. It was great to see the starters cheering them on on the bench as well because it really showed our good team mentality.”

The previous game against Harvard Westlake ended in a tie, so Loyola has improved greatly since the start of the season and positioned themselves to do better in Mission League. Smith-Hastie said, “Harvard Westlake was in the driving seat to win the league and now we are.”

Coach Mutch said, “The third goal helped secure the game for us and allowed us to clear the bench a little. This definitely was an important game because it was either going to put us in a tough place for league or was going to put us back in the driver's seat. So it was a pivotal game and our players reacted well, came out and played one of the better games of the year.”