The boys soccer team went 2-1 through the final stretch of regular season matches, besting Phoenix Christian 8-1 before falling to Basis 2-1 and bouncing back for a 3-2 win over Glendale Prep. The team ended up with a 4-9 season record and 3-5 in region play. Unfortunately, that wasn’t quite enough to make a run on the state tournament.

Phoenix Christian

Head coach Matt Pugliano said the Falcons “stomped on the competition” Feb. 23, besting Phoenix Christian by a sound margin of 8-1.

“The best thing about this game was the amount of different goal scorers we had,” Pugliano said. “Finn Hudoba and Zach Munzinger each netted two goals while Hunter McAloon, Jayden Harned and Savion Boone all added to their tallies.”

Freshman Brendan Davies scored the first goal of his high school career on a well-timed finish, Pugliano added.

“I was happy to see Brendan get that goal,” he said. “He really deserves it. He’s been at every practice working incredibly hard. He’s always in the right spot at the right times.”

Basis

Two days later, the Falcons took on Basis Phoenix in a do-or-die match that could have sent the local squad to the state playoffs. Losing by a narrow 2-1 margin, Pugliano said it wasn’t meant to be.

“We got on the board first with a nicely chipped ball by Hunter McAloon off a pass by Finn Hudoba,” Pugliano said. “Going into halftime with the lead, I was confident that we would get challenged in the second half. We used a high-energy press against them throughout the first half and we just ran out of gas near the end.

“Some great individual play by the Basis forwards led to their goals. The boys played great and deserved a better result.”

Glendale Prep

The regular season came to an end with the Falcons besting Glendale Prep 3-2 on March 2.

Pugliano noted that a poor play surface led to the Falcons taking some time to get their footing.

“We had some chances very early on but couldn’t convert,” he continued. “I was worried that we would get behind because of a bad bounce or something, but we were able to keep control until we could score.”

Zach Munzinger netted the first of his two goals on the night off a pass from Savion Boone.

“Finn Hudoba put another on the board on a sweet scissor kick off a chance created by Marrec Collins,” Pugliano continued. “Munzinger got his second on a chipped ball by Nico Cini. GPA fought to the end and took advantage of some lapses of ours to push us to the brink, but we got the result we needed.”

Unfortunately, that result still wasn’t enough to send the Falcons to the playoffs.

“It’s hard to say you deserved to be there in the end of a 4-9 record, but we played the fourth most difficult schedule in 3A, with all nine losses coming to playoff teams, including six of those in the top 10,” Pugliano said. “We were definitely a better team than most of those in front of us, but that’s the way it went.

“This was by far the most difficult season I have ever been a part of because of COVID, getting married midseason and the schedule, but the boys did a good job sticking with it and staying confident until the end.”

All-region

In the end, the Falcons had seven athletes named to the all-region team.

For the second year in a row, Dylan Shipman was named to the first team, with teammates Nico Cini, Fin Hudoba and Savion Boone finding spots on the second team. Honorable mention nods went to Zane Balzarini, Hunter McAloon and Nathan Ball.