Benicia v. Clayton Valley Boys Soccer Game Gallery

Steven Blake Harris (10) steals the ball from the opposing team.

Leonel Sanchez (10) throws the ball in for JV team.

Nico Del Rio (10) takes a breather, as the JV game nears its end.

Lucas Otanez (9) waits for his teammate to throw in the ball.

JV Captain Deniz Koseoglu (10) prevents an opponent from intercepting the ball.

Varsity captain Evan Leong (12) kicks the ball to a team member.

Varsity Captain Kobe Tooch (12) prevents an opponent from stealing the ball.

Rafael Torres (11) looks to his teammate to pass the ball.

Benjamin Godin (12) dribbles toward the goal with the help of his teammates.

Tarrick Sanders (12) effectively steals the ball from the opponent.

Benji Ryujin (11) swiftly moves to avoid the ball being stolen from an enemy player.

Photos By: Martin Bernal

Article By: Trina Bernal

JV and Varsity Boys Soccer went up against Clayton Valley. JV won 1-0 while Varsity lost to Clayton Valley.

To hype themselves before a game, the soccer athletes may put in some earphones to listen to music or collectively listen to tunes on a speaker. Then, they warm up and right before the game they say something motivational. Leo Sanchez (10) shares how they cheer for each other, and say something motivational, like “what we know we’re good at, what we know we’re better than them at, and we just tell ourselves we can win.”

Team captain Deniz Koseoglu (10) makes sure his group stays humble and gets their head in the game. He doesn’t take a step on the field without knowing his responsibilities full and well, “There’s a lot of communication. They depend on you to motivate them, in a way.” Frequently he helps lead team chants, or breakdowns, to intimidate the other team, like, “Panthers on me, Panthers on 3. 1, 2, 3, Panthers!” and “Benicia on me!”

One of the JV soccer players Brandon Black (10) plays the position of left defender. Going in the game, it’s widely agreed that the Benicia teams were excited going into the game because of how good the other team was. “We didn’t expect the other team to play so well in the center of the field so we had to adjust and try and run up the sides, so that made playing them tougher than we expected,” Black said. Sanchez recognizes how difficult the opposing team made the game to be, but appreciates the challenge, stating, “We’re grateful to play against teams over the bridge. We knew that Clayton Valley was the toughest team in the league, bringing us the toughest game in the season.” As a team they owed it to themselves to prove not only to their enemy team but also to each other that they’ll be the best team out on the field.

As for Varsity, team captain Evan Leong (12) believes his team is most effective at cooperation and teamwork, because personally he sees that though they “haven’t had the greatest season and took a couple Ls, we still worked hard and had fun.”

Benji Ryujin (11) agreed with JV players Sanchez and Black, how Clayton Valley would be competitive. Ryujin states, “Clayton Valley had a great record and we knew what we were up against.” But in spite of all of that, Benicia Varsity highly anticipated the game and continued being confident. On the contrary, Ryujin thought that Clayton Valley had a solid midfield possession but they “never seemed to be able to get past our back line.”

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