Last Thursday, January 18, the Los Altos High School varsity girls soccer team beat the Santa Clara High School Bruins 2–0. Following a 5–2 loss to the Archbishop Mitty High School Monarchs two days earlier, the game ended their two-game losing streak and put the team 5–5–2 overall and 2–2–1 in league play.
“The game was a little bit sloppy,” Head Coach Jacob Valadez said. “But coming off a hard loss on Tuesday, I appreciated the girls coming out and getting a win. We were never in really much danger, and it’s good to go into the weekend with a win.”
Though the Eagles did not dominate offensively at the start of the game, their defense prevented the Bruins from having any dangerous chances at scoring. A few opportunities finally yielded fruit when 20 minutes into the first half, senior Nikki Zokaei ended the deadlock with a goal to put Los Altos ahead 1–0.
“We had a good work ethic,” senior Aoife Turner said. “It wasn’t the cleanest out there, but even when you aren’t playing clean, you can still control your energy, and I think we did that.”
For the rest of the first half, the Eagle defense stayed strong and kept the Bruins at bay. A few close shots by Los Altos ultimately failed to convert to points, and the half ended 1–0.
“We need to work on finishing, especially me,” Aoife said. “I had a couple shots out there that I should have put away, and I think we need to work on communicating with each other.”
Entering the second half, Los Altos maintained control, and with 19 minutes left, Aoife scored the second Eagle goal of the night. For the rest of the game, neither team was able to get the ball into either net, and the game ended 2–0.
“We challenged for the ball everywhere on the field,” Valadez said. “We have a few injuries that we’re dealing with, so we were putting people into spots that they weren’t normally used to. They did a great job and stepped up, so I’m really proud of them for playing a little bit out of position and keeping us strong.”
