The varsity soccer team, led by head coach Chris Walter ’91, has officially began the start of the 2017 regular season on Nov. 28 in the Westside Tournament against Mira Costa.
The Cubs came into the game ranked seventh in the preseason CIF-Southern Section rankings.
The first half of the game was close with both teams unable to score despite many opportunities. At the start of the second, senior UCSD commit Aidan Cuevas scored to pull ahead of the Mustangs 1-0.
Junior Nico Chapus connected on a pass from junior Christian Locatelli, but the opposing goalkeeper was able to block the shot.
Soon after, senior Nico Sanchez was able to give the team an insurance goal to put the team up 2-0 and to lock in the Cubs’ first win of the season.
Junior Jake Gannon said, “Overall, we had better possessions [against]Costa. We struggled to score in the first half despite having more chances on goal than them, but we were able to score two goals in the second half.”
Walter said, “Our hopes are that we continue to improve and get better to gel as a team so that we can put ourselves in a position to compete with the best teams in CIF. Our team has set the goal of bringing the CIF Championship back to Loyola.”
On Tuesday, Nov. 21, the varsity soccer team travelled 21 miles south to face Palos Verdes, a rematch of the 2017 CIF Southern Section Quarterfinals which eliminated Loyola from the playoffs.
Loyola lost the scrimmage by a score of 1-2. The Sea Kings took an early lead 0-2 as the first half was coming to a close.
Right before the first half ended, sophomore forward Eric Arreola was able to score for the Cubs. After a deflected shot from senior Aidan Cuevas, Arreola landed a header in the back of the net. The score cut down the margin for the Cubs.
The game remained scoreless throughout the second half, and the Cubs lost by a final score of 1-2.
Walter said, “It was the first game we have played together in a long time, so knowing where our teammates are at on the field and knowing where to play each other with the ball offensively are definitely where we should be to support each other.”
The varsity squad’s next game is home on Dec. 5 for the third game in the Westside Tournament against Long Beach Wilson.
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