Samo showcases their skills against Inglewood

After a week of traveling to other schools, the Vikings boys’ soccer team finally played on their home turf against Inglewood High School on Dec. 13. Eager to get on the pitch and give their all, the team won the game, with a score of 2-0.Samo went out strong, possessing the ball and running for fifty-fifty tackles. Although some forced passes were made, causing turnovers, Samo looked and played strong as a team. Goalie Nate Comay (’19) was happy with how his teammates played, and performed well by defending his goal. “We played the ball very well out of the backfield, leading to some key through balls that gave us many scoring chances,” Comay said. Within fifteen minutes of play, left midfielder Justin Bautista (’19) received a through ball, dribbling through a defender and putting the ball past the goalkeeper to take the lead 1-0. After the goal, Samo got fired up and within a blink of an eye, a second goal from midfielder Luis Tamayo (’17) further increased the lead margin to 2-0. Another midfielder, Saroosh Ghaffari (’18), had only good things to say about the team going into the second half.“We played with a lot of effort, and not anything else, rewarding us with a 2-0 lead,” Ghaffari said. During the second half, Samo started to get a little sloppy with their passes, but the defense made sure that Inglewood could not counter attack. While Inglewood had a few scoring opportunities and Samo had many, the ball could not find the back of the net. Coach Joe Doyle was impressed with his squad, but noticed they have a lot to improve going forward.“I think overall we were the better team, and we showed that by knocking the ball around like we did in the first half, not so much the second. We forced the ball occasionally, but in general I’d say it was a pretty good performance,” Doyle said. All the players were pleased with the result, but know that they have plenty to improve on before traveling to their next game.