7th/8th grade soccer team shutout in tough loss

Life in division two, foreign to St. Mary's soccer teams until this year.

So far, it's been a tough go around for the 7th/8th grade boys soccer team who lost a hard fought 1-0 game Saturday afternoon at West Sunset.

Garrick, who played stellar in goal all afternoon, made one mistake the entire game and it led to the game's only goal. Off a corner kick, Garrick mishandled a ball heading towards the net and fumbled it into the goal.

Offensively, the boys had a chance to answer just minutes later when Luis had a wide open net in front of him. But he could not control the ball and squibbed a kick wide of the net.

Alan had a prime scoring chance in the 3rd quarter when he arced a quick towards the corner of the net. But the other team's goalkeeper was quite the tall tree and just got his hand on the ball to keep the game scoreless.

Alfonso looked a lot more comfortable in his second game at forward and rang a hard shot off the post in the third.

For the second straight week, the 7th/8th graders controlled the possession for the bulk of the game. But it hasn't translated into goals. In their two games so far they've only scored one goal.

Their defense, anchored by Ryan K. has really been good these first two games. Ryan has shown drastic strides and is now a staple in the defense and can't be taken off the field.

Communication was also a lot better for this team that was put together a little over two weeks ago.

It's unfortunate the season is so short and that at least record wise, they are in an early hole.

Raymond left it all out on the field as usual and had a scary moment in the first half when he was tripped up by a player on the other team. That same player then fell on top of Raymond's ribs. He sat out the 2nd quarter but returned to play the entire second half.