By Noki Lam
Staff Writer
In a blowout, boys soccer defeated Peninsula High School, 4-0, on Tuesday. The game was a rematch from the two teams’ faceoff on Jan. 6, in which the Mustangs won 2-0. Midway through the first half, senior forward Thomas Temperley dribbled the ball up from midfield and scored a solo goal off of a shot to the right side to put the game’s first points on the board.
“Teams tend to play more defensive against us because of how many goals we’ve scored this year,” Temperley said. “They feel they have to match our offense, so they focus less on defense, making our job to score easier.”
Moments later, junior midfielder Ace Tendale got the ball off the kickoff, burying it into the opposing keeper’s arms, causing him to fumble the ball into the Peninsula goal, giving Costa a 2-0 advantage.
“My reaction after the first goal was to get straight back into the action,” Tendale said. “Scoring so quickly again showed how strong we were going forward into the game.”
Towards the end of the first half, junior forward Nico Desisto received the ball on the right wing and cut in towards his left foot and scored off of a shot into the bottom left of the goal. This gave the Mustangs yet another goal and a commanding 3-0 lead going into the half.
“It feels good to have a large lead going into halftime,” Desisto said. “It allowed us to be comfortable in the second half.”
The lone goal scored in the second half came from senior forward Mateo Cervantes. After multiple missed shots into the goalpost, senior midfielder Dylan Kodama received the ball and passed it to Cervantes, who finished a shot into the bottom left, securing the victory, 4-0.
“Blowing a team out is the perfect game for us because it shows that we were clinical offensively and were able to lock the other team down on defense,” Cervantes said. “When we can keep a clean sheet while also scoring, it shows how well we are working to be able to put teams away.”
The win elevated Costa to a 7-0 Bay League record and a 18-3-2 record overall. The Mustangs are currently ranked as the 7th best team in California, and the 21st best team in the country.
“As a team we try to go into every game with the same intensity,” said junior midfielder Grant Gilmer. “But knowing that every league game matters in determining a league title drives us 110%.”
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