Highlanders continue to try to build<\/p>\n
PHS boys soccer team fell to host Mt. Eden, 2-1 on Jan. 14. The team is now 2-7 on the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first half was good, but we need to build on the simple concepts,\u201d coach Ben Russell said. \u201cTalking, communicating, problem-solving as the game goes, the initial part of the game looked okay \u2014 but (there needs to be) more accountability on the boys to be out there problem-solving.\u201d<\/p>\n
The match started in Mt. Eden\u2019s possession, with back and forth drives up and down the field from both teams. Mt. Eden shot their first goal attempt six minutes into the first half, but the ball was saved by goalie Tobias Tsai.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201c(Tsai) as a goalkeeper is phenomenal,\u201d Russell said.<\/p>\n
Mt. Eden continued to apply harsh offensive pressure before Piedmont center defensive midfielder Henry Devan stole the ball and took a huge offensive drive down the field, but ended up losing the ball.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Devan, filling in for center midfielder Roman Ahearn\u2019s absence, played three different positions in the game: attacking center midfielder, center defensive midfielder, and center back. <\/p>\n
\u201cI played alright, I definitely made a lot of mistakes, but I think everyone does,\u201d Devan said. \u201cI\u2019m overall proud of my performance.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Highlanders had their first close chance nine minutes into the first half when a shot on goal by right wing Robert Piniella was stopped short by Mt. Eden goalie Giovanni Lopez Montoya.<\/p>\n
The ball then went out of bounds, was given to Piedmont possession, and left center back Elias Reed-Miguel scored a goal off a header with 25 minutes left in the half.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw (Miles Kim) grabbed the ball for the cross, and sent it back to the middle and the goalie just kind of missed it,\u201d Reed-Miguel said. \u201cIt felt like time kind of froze \u2014 like there was so much time \u2014 and I just knew I had to get it on target to go in. And I did just that.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the goal, Mt. Eden turned up the heat, with striker Luis Fernando Duarte driving down the field and shooting multiple times, resulting in numerous saves by Tsai. <\/p>\n
The Highlanders and Monarchs continued battling up and down the field before the end of the first half.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a lot to work on,\u201d Devan said. \u201cWe are still bringing it all together. We need to work together better.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Piedmont started the second half with the ball, but it was soon turned over. Subbing in for Tsai, goalie Colt Hitchcock had a phenomenal save against Duarte five minutes into the second half.<\/p>\n
The Highlanders almost scored for the second time with 28 minutes left in the match, but were once again countered by a drive from Duarte.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think just focusing on our effort, because obviously against a good team, you can\u2019t control everything. But if we can make good tackles and attack quickly, I think we\u2019ll give ourselves a chance (in the future),\u201d Reed-Miguel said.<\/p>\n
Mt. Eden scored their first goal with 25 minutes left in the game by striker Braulio Lopez, knotting the score at 1-1. The Monarchs seemed to ground themselves, and continued to apply pressure on Piedmont.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Midfielder Diego Villagomez scored Mt. Eden\u2019s second goal with nine minutes left in the game, leaving the Highlanders down a score with very little time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are still a young team, and we need that experience and to be able to hold onto games like this, especially when we are in the winning position,\u201d Reed-Miguel said.<\/p>\n
With three minutes left, striker Evan Yamanaka drove the ball down the field and almost scored, before losing control of the ball.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s nice to have Evan Yamanaka back \u2014 he\u2019s been out most of the season with a wrist injury,\u201d Russell said. \u201cI thought he came back and looked quite sharp.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Highlanders also lost a nonleague game to Chico at home 3-0 on Jan. 7, and beat Encinal in a league game 2-1 on the road.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Highlanders continue to try to build PHS boys soccer team fell to host Mt. Eden, 2-1 on Jan.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414546,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-414545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414545\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}