 | | | Cougar senior Kian Maghsoodnia logged Campo's second goal in the 2-0 win over Miramonte. Photo David Lee
| | | | | | As the high school soccer season winds down and heads toward the NCS playoffs, the DFAL title is still up for grabs.
Except for their two league ties, both against their Lamorinda rivals, Acalanes has a perfect record, 7-0-2 (16-0-3 overall). Campolindo stands in second place with a 6-2-1 record (14-5-2 overall). Miramonte trails with 2-5-1 in league (4-7-2 overall).
The season's second round of rivalry action wrapped up Jan. 25. Campo logged the only win, defeating Miramonte 2-0. The other two match-ups, Acalanes against Campo and Acalanes against Miramonte, resulted in 0-0 ties.
On Jan. 11, Campo handed the undefeated Dons their first tie this season. Each team battled to score, but neither team could net the ball.
"(It) was a very close and exciting match and either team could have won. The result was very fair based on how both teams performed," said Acalanes head coach Paul Curtis.
On Jan. 18, Miramonte hosted Campo in their second meeting of the season.
Competitive and physical from the start, it took 30 minutes for an opportunity to score. Campo fired off the shot, but Miramonte goalkeeper senior Michael Akay bumped the ball up and over the crossbar to log a crucial save. Two corners followed with no goal scored.
With just three minutes left in the half, the first goal was netted by Campo sophomore Preston Kilwien.
According to Campo head coach Shane Carney, the first goal was critical. "Getting that first goal was important to give us a lead and take some pressure off heading into halftime," he said.
The second half brought more difficulty scoring. Like in the first half, with just minutes left on the clock Cougar senior Kian Maghsoodnia found the opening low into the right corner to log the second goal.
In a final attempt to get on the scoreboard, Miramonte senior Oliver Chew came close to slipping one in, but Campo's pressure was too strong. The game ended, 2-0.
"We played well defensively, but our offense was struggling tremendously - in part due to the way Miramonte was packing their players in the middle and in part due to a lot of our guys having off nights," Carney said.
Miramonte head coach Javier Ayala-Hil said his team is used to close matches. "Results have not been in our favor this year but almost every game has come close to the wire," he explained. "If we minimize our own mistakes this team can be very successful in the way we play."
On Jan. 25, Miramonte traveled to Acalanes and also held the Dons to a 0-0 tie.
Ayala-Hil was pleased with this result. "We possessed the ball the way we wanted in the first half which created a very exciting 40 minutes. In the second half, we stayed very organized and kept our mistakes to a minimum."
Curtis agreed that the game was an exciting battle between the rivals and noted Miramonte's improvement. "The Mats played very well and have definitely improved," he said.
League action wraps up Feb. 8 and NCS tournament play begins Feb. 13.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA