Tonight, on December 4th, Loyola varsity soccer won their third game of the season against Downey High School. Varsity team captain Henry Smith-Hastie scored the only goal of the game during the first half.
Downey started off playing aggressively, making two attempts to score in the first five minutes. Both teams started off the game strong, patiently waiting for the right time to score. The starting forward Spencer Roberts made the first attempt to score for Loyola ten minutes into the game.
Halfway through the first half, both teams had yet to score but had continued to amp up the pressure. Midfielder Nicolas Mancilla passed to Brennan Hilger who made an attempt to score but the ball was caught by the goalkeeper. Midfielder Christian Locatelli also attempted to score but fails.
Henry Smith-Hastie finally scored a goal for Loyola with six minutes remaining of the first half. Smith-Hastie said, “A defender had a bad touch and I just pounced on it. I had an open shot and thankfully I was able to act on it and score.”
Loyola started off the second half strong with Spencer Roberts attempting to score in the first few minutes. Loyola was gaining momentum after scoring in the first half but Downey tried to suppress that momentum by being more offensive. Downey consistently played more offense than Loyola; Loyola appeared to have lost their momentum. Downey was given many opportunities to score but failed to execute, and Loyola eventually gained the upper-hand.
Loyola was able to play more offense in the last twenty minutes of the game. Loyola increased their pressure on Downey by pushing the ball up the field and trying to find openings to score. With sixteen minutes remaining, Henry Smith-Hastie nearly scored but the ball hit the upper left-hand corner of the goalpost. Downey, trying to use every minute, continued to run the ball but Loyola’s defensive skills and passing skills made it difficult for them to score. A Downey player received a yellow-card as Downey began to play more aggressively in the final minutes of the game. Loyola played slow to run the clock and Downey failed to score before the final buzzer.
After the game ended, starting forward Spencer Roberts said, “It’s only our third game, but overall our chemistry is great. Our practices are energized and we have a lot of fun going out there and playing. So I think we're going to be amazing this season, but shooting the ball with quicker touches is something we can improve on.”
Varsity team captain and starting midfielder Henry Smith-Hastie said, “We were a little slow in the first twenty minutes and then we were able to get a goal and we continued to push forward and stop Downey from scoring in the second half.”
Coach Walters, pleased with the overall performance of the team, said, “We played well but we definitely have to continue to improve. We gave Downey a few opportunities and they were close to capitalizing, but we held strong and got them shut out.”