The Los Alamitos High boys soccer team won its pool at the Marina Holiday Tournament, but a loss to St. John Bosco in the championship bracket took the Griffins out of contention for the tournament title.
The Los Alamitos High boys soccer team won its pool at the Marina Holiday Tournament, but a loss to St. John Bosco in the championship bracket took the Griffins out of contention for the tournament title.
The Griffins would wind up in the fifth place game, where they would fall 2-1 to Sunset League rival Newport Harbor. The Griffins have had a solid pre-league season, but head coach Donovan Martinez knows they need to improve to compete for a Sunset League title.
“Our league is going to be very challenging,” Martinez said.
The Griffins had gotten off to a good start in the tournament, winning two games on Thursday. They defeated Fullerton, 1-0 in the morning and then topped Tustin, 2-0 in the afternoon. John Herron had the only goal of the game in the win over Fullerton.
Against Tustin, Brett Hall broke a scoreless tie with a header goal off an assist by Kevin Herring. Evan Bacani would add the second goal off a throw-in assist by Zach Way. The Griffin defense had been stellar over the five games through the Tustin win, having not allowed a goal during that span.
In the championship bracket game, the Griffins played eventual champion St. John Bosco to a 0-0 tie, but lost the game in a penalty kick tie-breaker, 5-4. The Griffins bounced back with a 5-2 win over Lakewood in the fifth place bracket, but fell to Newport Harbor in the fifth place game.
While the defense has been solid, Martinez said they need to improve on offense. He noted that the attack has been good, but that they are not capitalizing on the pressure they put on defenses.
“We need to finish, it seems we’re not finishing as composed and as sharp as we need to,” Martinez said.
