By Emma Gonosey
Executive Sports Editor
The Mustangs brought home the title of Bay League champions on Jan. 28, where they beat Palos Verdes, 2-1. The team had previously won the South Torrance Holiday Tournament over winter break and beat Redondo Union and Palos Verdes during the tournament. According to senior defender Zachary Davis, the team was excited going into Bay League.
“Expectations were very high,” Davis said. “We beat two of the best teams in Bay League, RUHS and PV, so our expectations were high.”
Two minutes into the first half of the Jan. 28 game, Costa fouled PV in the penalty box. PV then took a penalty kick and scored, taking a 1-0 lead.
“Going down a goal in a game is nothing new for our team,” senior goalie Jack Walter. “It’s almost like once we are scored on, a light switches or something on and we start to play really well, but that only happens if we are scored on. We can always find a way to fight back despite being down against a good team.”
The first half of the game continued to go back and forth. Neither one of the teams scored again during the first half, and the game remained 1-0.
“It was a flashback to [playing] Redondo earlier during Bay League, when we were down 1-0 at halftime,” Davis said. “We were in this position before, and I knew we could get out of it again.”
Costa kept control of the ball during the majority of the second half. Junior forward Mateo Cervantes scored two goals during the second half, one near the beginning to tie the game, and one during the last minute, where he won the game for the Mustangs.
“We clearly dominated the second half, and we deserved the winning goal,” Cervantes said. “It was great that I was able to win the game, which was well deserved for the whole team. Scoring the winning goal was a euphoric feeling that I always dream of doing in big games.”
The Mustangs’ first round of CIF took place Friday night at 5 p.m., where they faced off against Corona del Mar at Waller Stadium. Information regarding this game was not available at the time of printing.
“The season has had moments that could be improved,” Davis said. “But overall, we won the South tournament, and we won Bay League. Our next goal is to win CIF.”
Leave a Reply