Going into district play, head soccer coach Charlie Delong had very simple, basic objectives for his team: “to win,” “to play good soccer ” and “to work hard”. The Jesuit Ranger soccer team effectively met that criteria, as they have been rocking their district opponents with an impressive nine wins, one loss, and two ties, with a current winning streak of a whopping eight games! Most of these games were won in some cases by a very large margin, or they were won in a shutout. Here’s a recap of some of the soccer team’s district games in February.
The first week of February marked a rocky start for the team as they handed out a tie to Irving and a loss to Irving Nimitz. In the Irving game, William Finn scored in the 35th minute and Juan Ramirez scored in the 6th minute to take a 2-0 lead, but the Tigers came back with five minutes left to tie the game 2-2 in the final minute. Coach Delong was disappointed in his team, saying it was “a game we should’ve and could’ve won,” shaking off the game as they turned their attention to the next game against Irving Nimitz.
However, the Rangers suffered a devastating 1-0 shutout in their Friday match against Nimitz. The Vikings scored early on in the game and were able to hang onto their lead, as the Rangers couldn’t seem to put the ball in the net. Nevertheless, Coach Delong thought that “both teams played well” and the difference in the game was that “they made a play and we didn’t,” which seems to be a common problem in most soccer games.
The next rivals for the Rangers were the W.T. White Longhorns, and despite having a few disappointing games in the last week, the Rangers bounced back with a 2-0 win. In the first half, sophomore Aldo Quevedo ’17 got the team on the scoreboard with an insane kick over his head while looking in the opposite direction from the goal. That seemed to get the Rangers rallying as Ben Sloan added on another goal in the second half to give the Rangers the final 2-0 shutout.
The team continued their success against another big district rival in Irving MacArthur, dominating out a well-earned 2-0 win. The goal scorers were Juan Ramirez and Patrick Howell, both scoring towards the end of the second half to get the shutout. In this game, Coach Delong was proud of his team’s “effort and performance” as they “scored goals and won the game” in an important district match
Lastly, the team continued their shutout prowess with a 1-0 win over R.L. Turner on February 17th. The lone goal scorer was Will Kennard ’17 in the first half as Jesuit continued to play good defense and held onto the lead to win the game. Coach DeLong, despite wishing for more goals from his team, was happy with his team because they “created many scoring chances” and because they got the win.
According to the coach, the most important win over these last few games was the Irving MacArthur game because it was “a game that we probably needed to win” in order to be in the top few spots of the district standings, but also because the Rangers “needed to win a game against a good opponent for our confidence”.
This win streak has helped the Rangers climb into first place in their district and, with only a few games remaining, Coach DeLong believes “these next few games are very, very important to solidify our playoff position” and that he does not want his team going into the last games “stressing out about making the playoffs”. Hopefully, the coach and his team will continue their winning streak and take it into the playoffs as they compete for a state championship.
