Sitting in 2nd place in the league, boys varsity soccer stands at 4-0-1 on the season with a huge matchup Wednesday against the number one team, Arrupe Jesuit.
“It is a difficult game, we have to win or at least tie because whoever wins will be first. It makes me nervous. If we win, the season goes as planned and we get a trophy for the League,” said senior striker Oscar Ruiz-Reed. Ruiz-Reed has played all four years in high school, but played club, “most of my life, since I was six.” Ruiz-Reed is one of the team captains.
“We’ve had new freshmen, but the mentality of the seniors has helped the freshmen gain confidence which raised their ability level,” Ruiz-Reed said, “there are only two seniors, me and Nana (Essel).”
One of the younger leaders on the team is junior Anthony Mendoza. Ruiz-Reed says Mendoza is a midfielder, “his mentality is on point. He never stops running and always tries his best which helps the team get energy and finish the game the right way.”
Mendoza feels like the team is family, and he has family on the team. Two cousins play in the EHS boys soccer team, Mendoza and Derek Sanchez.
Mendoza has been on the pitch for a decade, “I’ve been playing soccer for 10 years,” and this is his 3rd year playing soccer at EHS. He thinks the team is good but it took a bit of rebuilding because “We lost a lot of players in certain positions which are important,“ six seniors graduated in 2024.
Mendoza knows the team can do well, “I feel good about this soccer season because we have a lot of potential and have good players all around the pitch.”
His goals this season is making playoffs. In his first year, 2022, the team made playoffs but lost League in the playoffs against Colorado Academy. Mendoza thinks this year will be different, “Another goal is to win the league because so far we are in 1st place.”
His cousin, freshman Derek Sanchez has been playing soccer for eight years. He thinks the team is great, but smaller, “I think the team is good but there aren’t a lot of players, “that just makes them small and mighty. Sanchez also played club soccer and made varsity, “my goal is to play as much as possible since I’m a freshman and to make playoffs since two years ago the high school team made playoffs.”
(Gabriel Rivas)
The next few games are critical, “Playing well will get us to our goal of making the playoffs, and staying first in the league will get us the trophy.”
