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![“[Volleyball has] taught me how to fall correctly, and another thing it taught is that you don’t have to be the best at something to be good at it. If you just hit the ball in a smart way, then it still scores points and you’re good at it. You could be a background player and still make a much bigger impact on the team than you would think,” Anya Gert (’20) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/AnnaGert_JinTuan_HoHPhotoEdited-600x900.jpeg)
![“I'm not nearly there yet, but [my confidence has] definitely been getting better since I was pretty shy and timid coming into Harker my freshman year. I know that there's a lot of people that are really confident in what they do, and I really admire them. Everyone's so driven and that has really pushed me to kind of try to find my own place in high school and be more confident,” Alyssa Huang (’20) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/AlyssaHuang_EmilyChen_HoHPhoto-900x749.jpeg)
Varsity boys soccer team loses a close match against Saratoga High School
Sophomore Rohit Shah kicks the ball far past midfield. The varsity team lost to Saratoga High.
December 10, 2015
The varsity boys soccer team lost 2-3 to Saratoga High School on Davis Field today as their third game of the season. The loss against Saratoga has made the team’s overall record 0-3; however, they still look forward to playing upcoming matches and plan to use their team spirit and camaraderie as an advantage to outplay other teams.
The Eagles had a strong start with a goal in the first five minutes of the game by Jared Anderson (9). Ten minutes later, Saratoga scored a goal at the fifteen-minute mark, tying the game up before the end of the first half. The game stayed stagnant for the rest of the first half. During halftime, the team huddled together while head coach Shaun Tsakiris motivated the boys to play stronger during the second half.
During halftime, Jared commented on the game so far.
“Our team has the right potential and from the looks of it, I think that our team is really good,” he said. “We just need to work a little more with each other so that we can be ready for league.”
After a fifteen minute long halftime, the second half began and ten minutes into it, Omar Hamade (12) headered into the goal causing the score to rise to 2-1 for the Eagles. Both teams faced hard for the next few minutes until one of the players from Saratoga scored a goal, making the overall score tied again.
As the second half continued, the Eagles began to slow down their plays, losing contact with ball more often than in the beginning, allowing Saratoga to score another goal in the last thirty seconds.
After the match finished, Coach Shaun remarked on his point of view of the game.
“Obviously, losing is not the best feeling in anyone’s mind, but as their coach, I’m concerned more about their mentality and their effort on the field,” he said. “I hope that these past 3 games will be a lesson to start the game with the correct mental approach in upcoming matches.”
Co-captain Sanil Rajput (12) also discussed on the performance today.
“Today, the team agreed that we played our best game so far. We came out flying and definitely dominated in terms of possession and playing style,” he said. “Our team is really tight this year. We all respect each other and love hanging out with each other. Every training and game, we constantly push each other to be the best we can be. In my three years for varsity soccer, I’ve had the most fun with this squad.”
After boys varsity played, the junior varsity boys soccer team began warming up to play Saratoga’s JV team at 4:30 p.m.
The boys will be playing their next away game against Lynbrook next Friday at 3:00 p.m.
