By Tyler Sonderholzer
On Wednesday, in their third league game of the season, the varsity boys’ soccer team defeated the Laguna Beach Breakers by a score of 2-0.
“We were looking for a win, being one and one in league, this was a must-win game for us,” senior captain Devin La Clair said. “The only thing we were worried about was getting that result and we played hard to get exactly that.”
Less than a minute into the game, great passing led to junior Noah Baldree getting a great scoring chance but his shot just went wide. Shortly after, La Clair had a good scoring chance, however, it went over the net.
The strong Baron offense continued as La Clair made a great pass to junior Micah Yanez. However, he was offside on the play.
Following a throw-in, senior captain Ethan Larsson had a great scoring chance in the 18-yard box, however, his shot was blocked and went out of bounds for a corner kick. The Barons were unable to score on it.
Sophomore Brandon Peterson was wide open just outside the 18-yard box and shot the ball but it went well over the net.
About halfway into the first half, La Clair attempted to cross to Yanez but the pass could not connect and went out of bounds for another Barons’ corner. On the ensuing corner, the Barons were unable to convert as sophomore Drew Payne shot it right into the Breaker goalie’s chest.
After a through pass to Yanez did not connect, the Breakers led a stellar counter-attack which led to their first scoring chance of the game, however, it went over the net for a Barons’ goal kick.
Soon after, Larsson managed to break free from the Breaker defense for a breakaway. However, the Breaker defense managed to catch up to him to thwart the scoring chance.
With 12 minutes left in the first half, Baldree managed to dance through the Breaker defense for his second great scoring chance of the game, but the shot went wide left.
The Barons kept up the offensive pressure going as La Clair had another scoring chance with nine minutes left in the first half but the shot went over the net.
On a free kick from Peterson, Larsson managed to get a shot off but was offside, and had another chance shortly after that went right into the hands of the Breaker goalie.
After a couple of minutes of back-and-forth play, the first half ended with a score of 0-0.
The second half started with the Barons largely being on the defensive side of the ball as the Breakers had scoring chance after scoring chance, but were unable to convert any of them.
With the Breakers’ continued offensive pressure, senior goalie Adam Guillen made a great save to keep the score tied 0-0.
With 30 minutes left in the second half, a Baron corner led to sophomore Stone Bakx having a wide-open shot but it went over the net.
With 26 minutes left in the first half, La Clair suddenly broke free in the 18-yard box and shot the ball past the goalie’s reach to give the Barons a 1-0 lead.
Following the goal, the Barons kept up the offensive pressure but were unable to extend past their lead of one.
After a Baron’s free kick, Bakx shot the ball via header into the net but was deemed offsides so the score stayed at 1-0.
With 10 minutes to go, La Clair made a great pass to Larsson who, after dancing through the Breaker defense, shot the ball to the right of the goalie and into the net to extend the Baron lead to 2-0.
Guillen made his second save of the game on a shot from outside the 18-yard box.
With two minutes left, La Clair dribbled the ball upfield and had a wide-open shot but it went over the net.
The final whistle blew not long after signaling the end to a 2-0 Baron victory. The Barons improved their league record to 2-1 and their overall record to 5-8-2. The team next plays Los Alamitos High School on Jan. 20 at 3 p.m. at Fountain Valley High School.
“It was just a good game overall, hopefully, our fans keep coming out and supporting us as we make our way, hopefully, to [CIF],” La Clair said.
