The boys soccer team recently lost 2-0 against Santa Monica High school at home on Friday, Dec. 13. The game marks a 0-2 record in the season. Preceding the loss against Santa Monica, the team lost 2-0 against Crossroads High School on Wednesday, Dec. 11 at home in the team’s first game of the season.
After the game against Santa Monica, defender Marty Minikes ’26 said the team improved their intensity compared to their first game of the season.
“I think our mentality was much better,” Minikes said. “We came out with much more intensity than in the first game. We knew this was going to be a tough game and knew we needed to come out strong. As time goes on the team will be more comfortable playing and hopefully we can continue to improve next week against Arlington and Crescenta Valley High School.”
Forward Micah Rossen ’25 said the team spent months preparing for the season with a mix of gym workouts and on-field training sessions and practices.
Head Coach Michael Erush said the team’s preparation leading up to the opener against Crossroads had been strong, but said the team’s performance did not meet expectations.
“The preparation I thought was above average for us, and then obviously the performance yesterday was absolutely not what we were anticipating as a group and individually,” Erush said. “I think we obviously need to learn from it and move forward and get ready for the game against [Santa Monica].”
Reflecting on the game, Erush said there were many challenges in the team’s first outing.
“The challenges were giving up a goal early, not starting the game how we wanted,” Erush said. “A lot of individual plays instead of collective ones. We wanted to play together and work together, but it was more of an individual effort with a few people. But I’m expecting the individual efforts and the collective efforts to double if not triple the amount than before.”
Right midfielder Roen Beiley ’25 said the team’s practices in the off-season did not translate over to the first game of the season.
“Our expectations were very high,” Beiley said. We’ve been practicing all summer, and we were very excited to show what we had been practicing and all we had been working on. And just honestly, from the first whistle, that did not come to fruition. We just didn’t show any of the things that we worked on during practice.”
