The Fountain Hill High School boys soccer team battled through injury and exhaustion to have a split showing at the Chandler Prep Invitational over winter break.

The first match of the tournament was on Jan. 3 against Gilbert Christian, where FHHS was narrowly defeated 4-2.

The next match, on Jan. 4, saw the Falcons face off against the team from La Joya. Coach Matt Pugliano said the Falcons dropped this showdown by a final score of 6-0.

On Jan. 5, Fountain Hills played two teams, Globe and Poston Butte. The Falcons beat Globe 8-1 and Poston Butte 4-0.

Falcon soccer has just one match this week, set for tomorrow, Jan. 10. The match is at home against Glendale Prep Academy starting at 6 p.m.

Gilbert Christian

Pugliano described the Falcons’ match against Gilbert Christian as a “high intensity contest” with two former region opponents scoring back and forth on each other.

Gilbert Christian scored the first goal off a breakaway, something the Falcons’ coach said needs to be tightened up in practice.

“That has been our huge weakness this season, as almost all goals we have conceded have been breakaways behind the defense,” Pugliano said.

Falcon Finn Hudoba tied the game up at 1-1 and then Falcon Javier Sanchez tied up the game again 2-2 just before halftime.

An injury forced Pugliano to change up his positions and the Falcons’ momentum quickly deflated as Gilbert Christian went on to score two more goals.

La Joya

La Joya is a 6A school, so the 3A Falcons had an uphill battle going into this match.

“It was a mismatch, to be sure,” Pugliano said. “But it was a good opportunity for the boys to see some high level competition.”

While the boys’ offense struggled to keep consistent pressure on La Joya’s defense, they did manage to keep the keeper on his toes by peppering shots throughout play.

Unfortunately, La Joya is a fast team that was able to slip by the Falcon defenders multiple times.

Globe

After shaking of the morning dew the Falcons unleashed an explosive offense on Globe.

“We've been focusing heavily on using space in our attack and we showed tremendous growth in that area,” Pugliano said.

Hunter McAloon led FHHS in scoring, netting himself a hat trick along with Nick Knowles, Will Eggert, and Javier Sanchez adding points to the board.

The match also marked the first goals for freshmen Savion Boone and Josef Johnson as the Falcons earned their big 8-1 victory.

Poston Butte

Heading into the final match of the long run, Pugliano talked with his team about the need for mental fortitude in tournaments.

“We talked heavily about guts and the mental game,” Pugliano said. “A long weekend like this will pound inexperienced players, but it’s got to be mind over matter. We were able to show that on Saturday.”

Finn Hudoba led scoring with two goals and both Will Eggert and Nick Knowles scored to get the Falcons to their 4-0 win.