Big Bruins Win Comes at a Cost

The Bruins boys soccer team beat Los Gatos 3-1 on Jan. 22, getting a much needed win as it heads into the second half of the season.

On Thursday, Jan. 22, the Santa Clara Bruins varsity boys soccer team earned a hard-fought, 3-1 win over the Los Gatos Wildcats, but it came at a cost. With the score tied at one a piece in the 25th minute, Santa Clara defender Diego Herrera went down in a heap of pain after attempting to settle a ball coming down towards him. The senior would have to be helped off the field with a teammate on one shoulder and a coach on the other. Herrera would not return.

Impressively, the Bruins did not allow themselves to get overly dejected about their teammate’s injury. Rather than let the loss of their teammate get in their heads, Santa Clara rallied and quickly regained their one-goal advantage on a strike from junior Jonas Flynn. From about 23 yards out, Flynn drove a right-foot shot from just left of the center of the pitch and into the far-right corner of the net.

The first half would come to a close with the Bruins still nursing the 2-1 advantage. Flynn’s goal put them in the lead for good, but the most impressive passing sequence on the night led to the Bruins first tally from youngster Ali Chalaknia. The sophomore finished off a beautiful tic-tac-toe passing sequence.

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“We were playing like tiki-taka, one-touch,” recalled Chalaknia on his strike that got the scoring started. ”My right wing, Gabriel [Ayala], gave me a perfect ball, and I just slotted it right to the corner.”

Ayala would be the only one credited with an assist, but if soccer went with hockey rules, the ball was perfectly distributed a second prior from senior Ahmad Ayadi to Ayala and then one-touched over to Chalaknia.

“That play, we were in the attacking third and I knew Los Gatos was good, so we needed to get a goal early, or they’ll catch us sleeping. I saw Gabriel making a beautiful run,” chimed Ayadi on his “hockey” assist. “I had to play him the ball there, and then he played it to Ali, just a beautiful goal.”

Ayadi would get on the scoresheet in true soccer fashion when he launched a left-footed shot from 27-yards out in the 60th minute to give the Bruins a two-goal cushion. While it was a brilliant shot, the three Bruins goal scorers, including Ayadi, were more than happy to direct praise to their back line of defenders who stymied the Wildcats’ offensive attack all game long.

“They did a fantastic job,” added Ayadi on the performance of the defense. “Nolan [Gallo] got subbed in; he did a fantastic job. Can’t forget about Eddie [Estrada], Donovan [Ferreir] and Doug [Patten], the whole back line.”

“They were amazing; they were locked down the whole time,” echoed Flynn. “Only one goal allowed; that’s all we can ask for.”

Between the goal scoring and the stingy defense, it was an all-around terrific performance for the Bruins, who, at 1-4-1 in league play prior to the match against Los Gatos, were in desperate need of a win. At 2-4-1 headed into the second half of the season, Santa Clara has seven more matches to try and qualify for the CCS playoffs.