Boys' soccer finishes its pre-season with two wins

Gregory BoehmStaff WriterBoys' varsity soccer won 3-0 against Paramount High School in a pre-season home game on Jan. 6 at Samo.In the early minutes of the game, team captain and senior midfielder Emmanuel Serrano sent a cross in to senior forward Barak Cassily who, with a flick of his head, put Samo in the lead.“We came into this game thinking it was going to be a very hard one. Manny had the ball out wide, I was screaming at him 'pass it to me,' he hesitated the first time, I called for it again, he sent me and I just ran onto it, flicked it far post. The keeper got a finger on it but it still went in. After that it was all good from there,” Cassily said.A fight almost ensued following a foul on senior midfielder Kevin Eyler, but was quickly broken up by the respective teammates.Later on in the game following a Samo chip that was sent into the penalty box, junior Aidan Peters sent the ball into the back of the net with a strong header off the top cross-bar.Paramount is ranked number one in Division II according to coach Serafin Rodriguez, but regardless the Samo goals kept coming as Junior Alex Farr struck a beautiful shot from outside of the 18-yard penalty box that secured the win for Samo.“This is definitely a big confidence booster because we just had a tournament over winter break and we lost two of the last games against two teams also," Cassily said. "[Paramount was] very tricky and good on the ball like this. So we had a game plan, we had to be physical and knock them off the ball."That same confidence was present when Samo won 3-2 against Palisades Charter High School on Monday Jan. 9.Samo started out the game with a goal from Cassily. This was Cassily’s third goal over three games so far. Shortly after, however, Pali followed up with what was a powerful shot from far out to tie the game back up.Samo ended the first half in the lead after a goal by senior midfielder Zach Leal.Minutes into the second half, sophomore forward Omar Sanchez was given a through ball down the line near the opposing goal and scored with a shot to the far post."It was my first goal of the season, so I was quite amazed,” Sanchez said.Shortly after Sanchez’s goal, a Palisades defensive player was sent off the field by referees after attempting to start a fight with senior forward Adam Davison, who handled the situation with good sportsmanship and did not fight back.Pali scored one more time in the final minutes of the game, but regardless, Samo emerged victorious.“The game on Friday was amazing,” Rodriguez said. “That was probably the best game they have played so far. The problem with us is the consistency of showing that intensity at every single game and [against Pali] it wasn’t there.”Overall, the team built confidence with their recent off-season performances and are ready to begin their league season which started with a game against Inglewood High School on Wednesday Jan. 11.“We got some chances to play some of our subs and its one of our last informal games before the league starts,” Yehia said. “We conceded a little more that I’d like — a couple little holes here and there — but we were switching up the team, switching up the formation. Exactly what we wanted out of a pre-season game.”gboehm@thesamohi.com