WEEK OF FEBRUARY 5

Coming off of JV-A’s sole District loss, they had a successful week that resulted in a win and a tie, as the Spartans maintained second place in the District standings near the mid-point of District play.

2.6.24 JV-A Boys Stratford vs. Cy Ridge

Coming off of a 2-1 loss to an undefeated and first place Spring Woods team, the Spartans came out strong in an effort to maintain their second place position in the District. The Spartans got on the scoreboard early with Fardin Ansari netting a goal in the 5th minute of play to give the Spartans an early 1-0 lead. Believe it or not, that is all that it would take to secure a victory.

Despite strong offensive efforts from both squads, defense prevailed as no goals were scored by either team in the ensuing 65 minutes of play, resulting in a 1-0 victory for the Spartans.

Kudos are in order for a hard-earned clean sheet (that’s soccer speak for no goals allowed!) to goalkeeper and co-captain Pablo Reyes and our defense led by co-captain Andrew Lumpkin and fellow starters Jonah Yim, Carson Rushing, and Braden Oliphant.

* Submitted by Mark Lumpkin

2.9.24 JV-A Boys Stratford vs. Memorial

JV-A looked to continue its winning ways on a beautiful evening at rival Memorial (or, as I prefer to say, “that red team”). The Spartans started strong offensively, managing to control possession early, resulting in a nice scoring attempt by forward Kevin Espinosa from the right wing that was just wide left at the 6 minute mark. Just four minutes later, Espinosa got up top with the ball having been passed from the midfield and had Memorial defenders on his left and right as the three of them raced toward the goal. The defensive pressure forced a narrow window from which to shoot, and as Espinosa fired off the only shot he had, the Memorial goalkeeper was able to make the save. At the 16 minute mark, stellar ball movement by the Spartans moved the ball beginning in the defensive half from Carlos Mendez to Carson Rushing to Aaron Castellon to Bernie Sanchez on the left side of the goal, with Sanchez niftily putting the ball into the net for a 1-0 Stratford lead. At the 25 minute mark, Memorial was able to tie the game 1-1 on a through ball over the top of the lone deep Stratford defender who was unable to thwart the clean shot.

Unfortunately, the seminal moment of the game occurred one minute later at the 26 minute mark – and had much less to do with soccer than one would imagine. As our Spartan forward advanced with the ball in the Memorial half, he was taken out by a hard sliding tackle by the Memorial defender, who completely missed the ball and slid into the right leg of our Spartan player. The highly illegal slide resulted in an immediate red card from the referee, but the Spartan player remained down in obvious pain. The severity of the injury warranted not just the attention of coaches and training staff, but the calling of emergency personnel, with an ambulance, fire truck, and an additional emergency vehicle ultimately arriving to tend to and transport the injured Spartan to the hospital. (* Update: the players’ fibula and tibia were broken, surgery was performed the following day, and he is resting and recovering).

After the sobering 25 minute pause in the game, the remainder of the first half was not played and the second half was truncated. The Spartans dominated possession in the second half against the Memorial team playing a man short due to the red card. Two minutes into the second half, Theo Bigirimana missed just high on a scoring attempt from the middle. At the 17 minute mark, Sanchez made a similar nice attempt from the left side that rose just over the crossbar. At the 20 minute mark, an indirect kick from about 5 yards from the goal was thwarted by a literal line of Memorial defenders. The Spartans finished with a flurry, attempting to score the winning goal against the Memorial squad that was clearly playing for the tie. Unfortunately, the Spartans were unable to score the winning goal as the game ended in a 1-1 tie. The Spartans will look forward to hosting “the red team” in the second round of District at our home field in the penultimate game of the season.

* Submitted by Mark Lumpkin

WEEK OF FEBRUARY 12

Entering the week in second place behind undefeated Spring Woods, the JV-A Spartans looked to wrap up the first round of District games as they hosted Jersey Village on Tuesday and played at Cy Fair on Friday night. It was a dominating week for the Spartans, resulting in identical 3-0 victories. The Spartans were also the benefactors of first-place Spring Woods finishing their game on Tuesday with a tie, enabling the Spartans to gain ground in the standings.

2.13.24 JV-A Boys Stratford vs. Jersey Village

Halfway through the season, our Spartans faced off against the Jersey Village Falcons on a crisp afternoon. From the outset, it was a Spartan-dominated game, with excellent teamwork leading to a significant victory that secured our second place in the JV-A League.

The first goal arrived at the 17th minute, thanks to an assist from forward Kevin Espinosa, which Theo Bigirimana skillfully converted with a stunning header, making the score Spartans1 - Falcons 0. The 27th minute saw our second goal, a well-executed corner kick by Aaron Castellon, which defender Andrew Lumpkin capitalized on with another header, bringing the score to Spartans 2 – Falcons 0. Our third and final goal came from a free kick in the midfield by our center back Johan Yim, who midfielder Ayden Zuñiga expertly connected to in mid-air, rounding off the score at Spartans 3 – Falcons 0.

Despite the Falcons’ attempts to control the ball toward the end of the game, our Spartans successfully minimized their opportunities. As we look forward to the second half of District competition, first place is tantalizingly close, with Spring Woods just a few points ahead in the league table. Let’s keep up the momentum!

* Submitted by Juan Reyes

2.16.24 JV-A Boys Stratford vs. Cy Fair

JV-A Boys Soccer played at Cy Fair on a chilly Friday night that resulted in a Spartan 3-0 win. The game’s most outstanding players were Theo Bigirimana, Fardin Ansari, and Sergio Andrade.

The first half started with short possessions from both teams and two shots taken by Cy Fair,  followed by two taken by Andrade and Ansari over the cross bars. Bigirimana scored the Spartans’ first goal with a shot to the bottom left corner for a 1-0 Spartan lead. The first half ended 1-0 up, with the Spartans having more and clearer chances to score – yet still only up a single goal. Good overall effort on both ends by the Spartans, utilizing a new 4-4-2 formation that took a little bit of time to get adjusted to.

The Spartans came out strong after the half, scoring in the 5th minute when Andrade made a long accurate pass off of a free kick on the right side, leaving Ansari alone versus the goalie and finishing with a nice put-away goal – Spartans took a 2-0 lead. Cy Fair had a one-on-one chance in the 9th minute, but goalkeeper Pablo Reyes was able to make a nice save. Ansari hit the crossbar on the 15th minute, and Bigirimana made a great cross to leave Kevin Espinosa alone to finish with a nice goal for a 3-0 Spartans lead. The Spartan defense, led by Andrew Lumpkin and goalkeeper Pablo Reyes had another dominant game to secure another clean sheet on the season – and second of the week.

The ball movement by the Spartans was crisp and with few turnovers. The quick passing to both sides of the field allowed the Spartans to create more spacing and attacking chances. Overall, a well-deserved win with overall good team performance and few mistakes committed.

* Submitted by Richi Velardi