In a match that was possession-heavy for the Mesa men’s soccer team, they were unable to capitalize on their chances and lost 2-0 to Santiago Canyon.
The first half was a lackluster one. The Olympians controlled the tempo of the game for the most part. There were a few sloppy passes which eventually led to a counterattack. Once the Olympians adjusted to the countering there was an unnecessary and obnoxious foul outside the box.
This led to a free kick, and Santiago Canyon capitalized on the opportunity and crossed the ball into the box. Santiago Canyon’s midfielder Sam Everlake connected with the ball with a spectacular header, and Mesa found themselves down 1-0 in the first 19 minutes of the game.
Two minutes later there was a costly defensive error which led to a pass straight to Santiago Canyon’s forward Noah Lopez. He found himself one-on-one with Mesa’s goalkeeper and scored. The Olympians were down 2-0 going into the second half.
The second half was a somewhat positive one for the Olympians. They finally created chances with the ball and had some set pieces near goal, and a few shots on target, but the score stayed the same.
There were still some errors by the Olympians, but luckily none of them were costly. The Olympians lacked team chemistry and often found themselves close to goal, yet kept losing the ball to the defense due to inaccurate passes. Their style of play felt rushed and there needed to be a real build-up for a goalscoring opportunity.
As the clock was winding down, the final whistle was blown. Mesa lost 2-0 for the 2nd time in the same week and found themselves 0-2 to start the 2024 season.
“Obviously with two games not scoring, we need to work on our offensive efforts a lot better” head coach Ray Taila stated on his takeaways from the match. “It’s a little bit of chemistry, and we do have a big roster right now.”
“We’re trying to find out which players work well together,” Taila said.
Talia had a very positive outlook on the game and plans to stick to a set of guys as the season progresses.
“The game ended 2-0, I think we played well, we had our chances and unfortunately we didn’t get to them”. Javier Morales said. “It’s all about communication … As a team, we got to make sure we regroup for that and just keep working.”
As the Mesa College men’s soccer team falls to 0-2 on the year, they will be hungry for their first win of the season. There is a lot to build on from this result, and a lot more to come from this team that will surprise many. The Olympians kept their head up, and will now practice and work hard to achieve their first victory of the 2024 season.
