After losing 2-1 to Cathedral High School last Thursday in the squad’s first home game of the season, the boys’ varsity soccer team will face Redondo High School in the South Holiday Tournament this Thursday.

The Cathedral Phantoms took a 1-0 lead within the first 10 minutes of the match.

The Wolverines notched their only score of the match off a set piece pass from Matthew Glick ’15 to Cole Fletcher ’15.

Going into halftime with the score tied at one apiece, Cathedral scored once again in the second half to take a 2-1 lead that would eventually give them the win.

In the squad’s upcoming South Holiday Tournament, the Wolverines will face the defending Mission League Champion and rival Loyola Cubs, if they are able to advance to the finals by winning their side of the tournament’s bracket.

The squad lost both matches last season against the Cubs, who finished the year undefeated in Mission League play.

Although the Wolverines lost valuable seniors this year including team captain and leading scorer Ty Gilhuly ’13, the team gained three returning athletes who did not play last year.

Glick, Jack Temko ’14, and Fletcher all returned to the program and are all making a big impact on the team’s success.

Fletcher took a year off from soccer in order to join the basketball program last year.

“Although I played basketball last year, I played soccer for my club team starting in February so I was prepared to come back this year,” Fletcher said. “Players in both the basketball and soccer programs are great and they equally get in the mode of games and practices.”

Glick missed all of last season due to an ACL injury he suffered during the football season. Temko was absent for all of last season since he was playing in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy, the elite soccer league in the country, instead of playing for the Wolverines.

“High school soccer is still really fast, but Academy is just another level,” Temko said. “The reason I came back to playing in high school was that although I loved my team at Academy and traveling around the nation, I missed the school environment, being with all my good friends and playing in front of the crowd I know.”

Although the Wolverines will have three additions this year, they will be missing forward Matthew Gooden ’15 due to his decision to play Academy soccer for the remainder of the season.

The team will kick off its Mission League season Jan. 8 against Crespi at Ted Slavin Field.

“At the beginning of last season, the team was still getting used to a new coaching staff, and we were not playing at the level we would have liked to be playing at,” Henry Quilici ’15 said.

“However, by the end of the season we were a much stronger team and we were all fairly happy with our performances. This year, we are treating preseason training more seriously which will allow us to play at our full potential from the first game of the season.”