Varsity Boys Soccer (1-2-3) played two important games in District play last week, the first against the current district #1 and the second, with Memorial.

vs. Cy Ridge

Tuesday night, the Spartans travelled to Cy Ridge High Stadium to take on the undefeated and first-place-in-District Rams.

Our boys started strong with an early scoring opportunity in the 11th minute. On a give-and-go between Yuto Komiya and Hanno Waguespack, Hanno centered the ball to Fabu Ndayishimiye, who took a hard shot to the right, but was blocked out by the keeper. The ensuing corner was out long across the goal to give the Rams a goal kick. The Rams equally had some strong opportunities, but were held at bay with two nice saves by Juan Ugalde.

In the 20th minute, the Spartans put together a nice drive that started with a pass from Rudolfo Moncada to Bennett Swires, who made a nice cross to Yuto, whose shot was just over the crossbar. Cy Ridge responded a minute later with a quick play but was ably saved by Juan Ugalde. The Stratford defense continued to mount a few strong holds with notable plays by Adrian Estrada and Zayn Tippitt to keep the Rams clear of the goal.

Then in the 32nd minute, on a quick long-play, Cy Ridge found themselves with numbers at the box and put in the first goal of the game to go up 1-0. Stratford responded immediately and got the ball up to Hanno, who took a foul that drew a yellow card for Cy Ridge, but got a good look on a set piece from 15 yards out. Yuto took the kick and curved it to the right with so much pace the goalie was left standing in the middle, but it fell just inches outside of the post. The Spartans put themselves in good position to take some shots in the first half, but went into halftime, Cy Ridge up 1-0.

The Spartans started the second half, continuing from the first, with some good plays and opportunities. Hanno took a ball deep in the corner and centered it a bit too close to the keeper, who pulled it down before any other white shirts could get there. Brian Leon had a nice corner kick that was blocked out by a defender. Yuto and Fabu teamed up to deliver a long pass and low shot that was on-target, but was saved by the Cy Ridge keeper. However, Cy Ridge showed us why they are undefeated, with three goals in 10 minutes of play. Our boys just couldn’t recover and the final was 4-0.

vs. Memorial

It was a beautiful night at Tully Stadium Friday with a good crowd to watch these long-time rivals, and it did not disappoint.

Memorial came on strong with a quick goal in the 7th minute to start the scoring, 1-0 Memorial.

But the Spartans created their chances. On a long throw in to center by Zayn Tippitt, Brian Leon took a curving shot that was caught by the keeper. Then in the 11th minute, SHS put together a nice play with passing by Hanno, Yuto, and Bennett that ended up with Jasper Hartman taking on four Memorial defenders and getting off a hard shot to the lower right, but it was saved by the Memorial keeper. But our Spartans were having a hard time with the Mustangs' fast-breaks and several really quick shots were rattled off, but fortunately, all saved by Juan. Halftime and the score remained, Memorial up 1-0.

The second half brought more of the same, with many fast, long plays by Memorial that just seemed to cut through the whole of the Spartan offense, midfield to defense, but were off-target, saved by Juan, or blocked out by the last line of defense, including Zakir Ashford.

With 10 minutes left, Memorial took advantage of some positioning confusion and got their second goal to go up 2-0. If at this point you left the stadium to get a jump on the Chik-fil-A line on the way home, then you certainly missed out on some spectacular play by the SHS Spartans as our boys were not about to lie down and take it from Memorial.

With just 3 minutes remaining, the Spartans earned a set piece 25 yards out. Jasper took the kick, which was blocked out by the keeper just out of Yuto’s reach, but Hanno followed up and snuck it in the bottom right corner of the net. Stratford gets on the board, 2-1.

Then with 30 second on the clock, on a pass from Boniface Byshimo, Fabu took control of the ball and put a shot to the lower right and back of the net to tie it up, 2-2, and send the crowd into a frenzy. Although not a “W,” the late-game effort and tie by the Spartans was quite a moral victory for the team and could be the catalyst to turn things around for the Spartans to make a serious run at the playoffs. We showed true grit by rebounding after a tough loss to Cy Ridge earlier in the week.

Next week, mark your calendars, SHS continues to fight for their playoff hopes and will travel to take on Jersey Village Tuesday night and will host Cy Fair at Tully Stadium Friday night. We need Stratford USA to come out and support our boys! See you all there!