Boys Soccer vs Foothill Tech

The Cate boys varsity soccer team dropped their first regular game since the 2018-19 season, 2-0 at Foothill Tech in Ventura Thursday night. The Dragons controlled the first half of the first forty minutes and tallied in the 15th minute when a Foothill forward broke through alone on Cate keeper Tyler Martinez ’24 and slotted a ball low, right. Cate narrowly missed the equalizer later in the half when they sailed one over the crossbar from close range off a crafty free-kick from Ari Seal ’24. In the second half, Peter Wood ’22 got taken down right on the edge of the box – a 50/50 call on whether or not it was a PK, but the official didn’t consult us for our opinion – and the free-kick from 18 missed the mark. Foothill Tech nodded one home in the 85th minute off a restart to seal the deal.

Foothill Tech is skilled, fast, and disciplined, and when given time on the ball, strung together dangerous combinations. But after the first 20 minutes, we did a great job of not giving them that kind of time and were rewarded with some scoring opportunities of our own. Our very young center midfield of sophomore Own Conde-Raggett and freshmen Seb Sutch and Ari Seal worked at a feverish pace for all 80 minutes and made life difficult for the Dragons. In the back, with Kobby Nimako ’22 and Andrew Mabon ’21 injured, Lukas Hendriks ’22 and Ricky Valente ’22 were outstanding as centerbacks. And I mean OUTSTANDING. Between the pipes, Tyler Martinez continues to grow at a rapid rate. He controlled the box and made four very good saves.

We’re very, very young, but we’re showing a ton of poise and confidence, as well as the ability to learn and adapt on the fly, which is good since we head up to Dunn today to play another very strong team.