Boys’ soccer: Preseason coming to an end

With the preseason coming to an end, the boys’ soccer team achieved a 3-2 record, most recently beating Prospect 2-1 on Dec. 7.

The Falcons were down 1-0 after the first half, but they did not let the early momentum determine the fate of the game.

Shortly after the second half started, freshman center-midfielder Samuel Junqua opened up the scoring for Saratoga with a beautiful shot from 40 yards out, which found its way over the goal keeper and straight into the top left corner of the net.

“I saw the keeper off his line so I decided to take a shot, hoping to get it over him,” Junqua said. “It felt good to see it go past the goalie and into the upper ‘v.’”

Senior center-midfielder Rajiv Ramakabir followed suit shortly after when he found himself in open space right outside the 18-yard box. Ramakabir placed a shot that beat the keeper at his near post and gave the Falcons the lead that they would hold for the rest of the game.

The Falcons were unable to get a win streak started due to their 1-0 loss to Leigh in their next game on Dec. 12. Besides the goal that Leigh scored in the middle of the first half, the rest of the game was for the most part uneventful with the Falcons retaining most of the possession in their opponent’s half of the field. But they were unable to break down the opposition’s disciplined defense.

However, the opponents in the preseason do not match the skill and intensity that the DeAnza League teams bring to the pitch. The Falcons will be challenged much more against teams such as Mountain View and the newly promoted Homestead.

“We are going to play much harder teams in the season than the teams that we have played so far in the preseason,” senior center back and team captain Manish Raghavan said. “We will need to work hard in every training in order to compete with the other teams in our league.”

The first league game will be played against Mountain View on Jan. 4 at home.