The varsity boys soccer team celebrated their senior night, with a 2-0 win against Palo Alto High School on Feb. 8.
Before the game, the team stood in two lines across the field to create a pathway for the seniors. The seniors were each introduced as they walked toward the cheering crowd in the stands to greet their family and receive a bunch of flowers.
“It was surreal to walk through and watch everyone’s faces, including my brother who’s now a freshman,” Senior center midfielder Sola Nishimura said. “Everybody clapping and smiling and my mom and my brother waiting for me at the end, I was about to cry.”
Senior Striker Liam Barrett, said it has been an honor to play for MVHS for the past four years.
Barrett said that this season is the end of many of the seniors’ soccer careers as only a few are playing in college.
“It’s been great to be a part of a team where we have such a strong bond and our connection on and off the field is always so strong,” Barrett said. “I’m happy with this season being my last season and how great we’re doing.”
The first half of the game was largely uneventful until the last two minutes, when senior forward Ali Edris ran the ball across the field and set up junior forward Viliami Sekona to score the first goal of the game.
Both teams failed to score in the beginning of the second half but Barrett said junior midfielder Niko Dekovic had a good game defensively and slowed down a lot of the counter attacks from the Vikings.
Nishimura said senior forward Lucino Bortolato has been on varsity with him since sophomore year but hasn’t been getting as much playing time this year.
“He went crazy, like actually popped off and I think he’s getting a chance to play the game tomorrow and potentially in the [Central Coast Section Championship] because he proved to our coaches that he deserves to be on the field,” Nishimura said.
Sophomore Nicco Garzino scored the second goal and sealed the victory for the Spartans with minutes left in the second half.
Nishimura said that Garzino is the team’s star player as he’s really fast and overall a talented player.
The game ended with a final score of 2-0 but Nishimura said the Spartans could have scored more points.
“We missed a lot of chances and we were really sloppy in the back,” Nishimura said. “We gave them a couple of risky chances [as well].”
That said, the Spartans are seeded first in the De Anza League and second in the CCS Division 1 standings.
The Spartans are headed off to the CCS semi finals game tomorrow night, against Archbishop Mitty High School, after defeating Alisal High School in the quarterfinals earlier this week.
“We already clinched the league championship and we’re looking to go back to back in the CCS Championship and then maybe get a NorCal championship,” Barrett said. “We lost in the semi finals last year, but I think we can do it this year.”
