The Palo Alto High School boys’ soccer team (2-0-0) lost its winning streak to Gunn High School in their showdown with a tie, 1-1, on Friday.
During the game, the Vikings were able to score sooner than the Titans due to their ability to communicate, noted senior forward Mark Raftery. With every attempt in getting closer to the Titans’ goal, Paly students in the stands cheered for the fowards who tried to score. There wasn’t much tension in the stands because most of the Paly students expected Paly to dominate the field.
Senior defender Mark Raftery brought the Vikings the lead in the first half of the game when he scored a goal with a freekick from 20 yards away. As Gunn’s offenders, including junior forward Sam Hayward and freshman forward Jaguiro Ramiro, tried to break through Paly’s defense, junior defender Gerrit van Zyll was able to take possession of the ball while junior keeper Kris Hoglund saved a total of three shots that were attempted during the first half.
Towards the end of the first half, sophomore striker Skyler Felt broke ahead of Gunn’s defenders in an unsuccessful attempt to score another goal for Paly. Gunn, in return, sent a stream of players deep into the Paly defense by using senior keeper Paul Blanchette’s far punts in hopes of a goal.
The first half of the game ended with Paly leading 1-0.
At the top of the second half of the game, Gunn started raising its offensive power in a desperate attempt to level the score.
Hayward displayed Gunn’s offensive strength by driving up the sideline and coming close to Paly’s goal but never had the opportunity to take a shot.
Paly’s offense slowed down greatly due to the referee, who called many of the fast breaks “off sides,” which refers to when the opposing team’s offense passes to a player that is behind the other team’s last defender.
With the clock winding down and only four minutes left, Gunn missed critical opportunities to score, having all three corner kicks intercepted by Paly defenders. On a pass kicked high in the air, junior forward Mason Naar headed the ball and ended up scoring, 1-1.
Head coach Donald Briggs voiced his disappointment about the outcome of the game but noted that it won’t be a big loss for the whole season.
“We were ahead in the first 77 minutes of the game,” Briggs said. “But it’s still early in the season so all we have to do is win the next games.”
Gunn’s soccer coach viewed the outcome on a different note.
“I thought it was fair,” head coach Dave Lovercheck said. “Both teams played hard; both teams had chances. 1-1 was probably fair.”
Junior defender Gerrit van Zyll accepted the fact that Paly played hard but was disappointed that the game ended in a draw.
“We played pretty well, but [we] should’ve put away our chances more,” van Zyll said. “I think they [Gunn] were lucky. They got that lucky goal in the end, and that was their only good chance.”
The Vikings’ next game will be against Los Altos at 3:30 p.m. on Jan. 21 at Paly.