Boys Soccer Fights to the End to Beat Lawndale

On Wed. January 10, Samo’s boys soccer team laced up their cleats for their first game after winter break to play Lawndale High School. Samo battled into overtime and earned a 3-2 victory for their first league game of the season. Both teams came out hard, but Samo especially showed that they were ready to play. For the first ten minutes, the ball was mostly in Lawndale’s half as Samo’s offense pushed to try to get an early goal. However, the momentum changed quickly and Lawndale began to drive towards Samo’s goal. Lawndale received a corner and lobbed the ball into the air where another player headed it into the goal, giving Lawndale a 1-0 lead early. After the goal, intensity rose as Lawndale was trying to get another quick goal and Samo was fighting to tie the game up. About halfway through the first half, Lawndale’s goalkeeper was dribbling the ball inside the box when center midfielder Owen Fitzsimmons (’19) ran up to pressure him. Fitzsimmons stole the ball from the goalkeeper and kicked it into the empty net, tying the match 1-1. The game kept up its quick pace and both teams saw opportunities to score. With seven minutes left, Lawndale shot the ball on the ground to Samo goalkeeper Nate Comay (’19). The ball bounced off of Comay’s hands, and an offensive player from Lawndale recovered the ball and tapped it in. Just before halftime, when both teams were very fatigued, Samo made a drive down the field and got a throw in near the end line of Lawndale’s side. Center back Will Wisen (’18) hurled a long throw into the box and Fitzsimmons headed it into the goal. This gave Fitzsimmons a second goal and tied the game 2-2 to end the first half.Samo had responded to both of Lawndale’s goals with two of their own, but the team still had another half to hopefully come out with a win. Comay recalled how the team was prepared to work hard all the way until the end of the game.“Every time we play Lawndale it’s a physical battle. We knew this would be a very demanding, quick and physically challenging match,” Comay said. The second half started off ferociously and fast-paced. Early on, Samo made an impressive drive to goal and put a shot on frame, but Lawndale’s goalie made a difficult save. Samo kept up the pressure and made another counter attack to goal and crossed the ball, but couldn’t capitalize. For the rest of the second half, the ball flew from side to side and both teams had missed their several opportunities to score. As time began to tick away, both teams frantically tried to put a goal in the back of the net before the clock ran out. However, with both teams keeping the other from scoring, the game remained tied 2-2, sending the match into overtime. Assistant coach Daniel Hulbert recognized the team’s ability to create chances near the end, but hoped they would be able to capitalize.“We did a very good job of creating clear scoring chances in the final third from open play as the game went on. However, we need to work as a team on finishing off those scoring chances, to make our dominance in open play count on the scoreboard,” Hulbert said.After regulation time, the two teams went into sudden death, where the first goal would completely end the game. An exhausted Samo team rallied for two periods of ten minutes, desperately trying to score. In the last four minutes of the second period, one of Samo’s center midfielders split a ball through two Lawndale players to left winger Nathaniel DeRose (’19) on the left side, and he took one touch and blasted it into the opposite side of the net. This goal ended the match and put Samo on top with a 3-2 victory.After such an exciting win, the team is proud and happy with the outcome. Comay expressed how hard the team fought to pull this win.“The team played incredibly today. It was our first overtime game this year and every single player put in work and fought for every ball. We created chance after chance and kept shooting until we finally scored,” Comay said.This win will boost the team’s confidence and momentum for the season. While they will celebrate their victory, coach Hulbert reminded the team that they still have many more matches to play.“Looking at the big picture, we have to keep improving and focus on a very tough away game at Hawthorne on Friday. We know we have to get better as a team and continue to keep working hard,” Hulbert said.