Sophomore Alan Gallardo attempts to break away from a Wolf.
A year after winning the section championship, the boys’ soccer team failed to make playoffs.
Despite this, the boys finished their season powerfully with a crushing 5-1 victory over the Western Sierra Academy Wolves on Feb. 13.
The Cavs came out of the gate strong. Senior Aidan Cunningham opened up the game, scoring the first goal and putting the boys up, 1-0.
Junior Theo Kaufman, the Cavs’ season leader in goals, added another one to his tally, and the boys were up by two.
Although they were putting on an offensive clinic, it was the Cavs’ defense that sealed the game, according to sophomore Benett Sackheim.
Sophomore Jack Christian watches a lofted pass fall while a Wolf gears up to regain control of it.
“We stacked the defense with (sophomore) Nate (Jakobs), (junior) Andrew (Rossell), (senior) Emil (Erickson) and me,” Sackheim said.
“We just clogged up the middle and sent the ball up to (Kaufman) and (Cunningham) and let them do their thing.”
Apparently the Cavs’ defensive stacking wasn’t impenetrable as the Wolves’ squeezed in a goal, 2-1.
But the Cavs struck back with another goal from Kaufman, putting him at 13 for the season, and a goal from Erickson.
Jakobs finished with a goal of his own, sealing the Cavs’ last victory.
Despite the dominating performance, the win was bittersweet, according to Jakobs.
“It’s disappointing that we didn’t make playoffs, but that just means we have to come back even stronger next year.”
—By Jake Longoria
