By Reagan Miller
Redwood boys soccer played Golden Valley High School, from Bakersfield, CA, and won 2-0 last Friday night. Friday’s game was the first boys soccer playoff game played in the Mineral King Bowl in over 10 years.
“I feel very honored to be able to play our valley game in the Mineral King Bowl. [I’m] very excited to see all of our supporters.” says Angel Montes ‘23.
Gavin House, ‘22 says, “It was awesome having a home crowd in the bowl. I felt like the fans helped to keep the game swinging our way. They were yelling and talking to the other team so that gave us an advantage.”
With a rocky start to the season, the coach and players hope to extend the season into March. “[We] started off the season a little sloppy, but slowly started cleaning it up and learning from our mistakes. We are on a roll as of right now!” says Montes.
Not only did the boys feel more confident with playing in the Bowl, they are also on a 12 game winning streak.
With the game being the first played in over 10 years in the Bowl, the boys were excited to see the school come to the game and support the team. Coach Joey Chica says, “It’s a special moment being able to host the championship game in our home stadium. It gives the boys some extra motivation to do well in front of their friends and family.”
“I’m very confident that my team and I will do a great job in putting this team away and taking on this valley title. Especially because we are playing at home and we have one of the best student/supporters sections,” says Montes.
With the Valley title in mind the team stuck to what they know in order to limit their mistakes.
Coach Chica says, “The season has been a roller coaster ride, but it has been fun leading up to this point. The boys should be proud that they are still playing at this time of the year.”
“The season started off super strong and we were rolling strong. Halfway through the season we took a tip and lost to Mission Oak, Lemoore, and Golden West. We were pretty down, but came out of that hole pretty strong. We have all worked super hard for this and I love my team through everything,” says House.
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