With Tie, Bears head to CCS

Photo Credit: Russell Gurman

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Written by Russell Gurman

After starting the season strong finishing only behind sequoia, the Bears appear to have faded in the second half of the season. Winning only one out of their last six games, the team barely snuck into the CCS playoffs, claiming the last spot out of 36 teams.

Coming off a disappointing tie versus San Mateo High School, M-A headed to Woodside to take on the rival Wildcats. With the loud support of the “doce hombres”, the bears were anticipating another large victory after destroying Woodside on January 15^th 6-0.

However, they were not able to score in the first half, blowing many scoring chances, including Aaron Oro heading the ball right into the hands of the Woodside goalie on a corner kick. Fortunately, goalie Derek Carver stopped everything in his path to keep the game tied at 0. The half ended with a controversial no-call by the referees, who seemed to ignore all penalties against the Bears. As the sun set and the lights turned on, Woodside scored on a long volley that went into the top left corner, just out of reach of the sophomore goalie. Again, the Bears struggled to score on key chances. Adam Zuckerman, Francisco Sanchez and Aaron Oro missed on free kicks, while recently called up Tucker Albright’s header late in the game appeared to go in but was saved by the Woodside goalie.  As time was running out, Sanchez scored an electrifying goal, tying the game and bringing what was left of the M-A fans to their feet. Once more, poor officiating led to a sour ending for players as the game ended in a tie. Not only were the fans and players angry at the officiating throughout the game, but the lack of stoppage time was also a source of frustration.

This game brings the Bears to a 6-4-2 league record, 7-6-4 overall. The Bears will head to Santa Clara High School to play the number 5 seed in the playoffs on Wednesday at 2:30.