On Thursday, October 25^th, the boys varsity soccer team headed to the APS Soccer complex to play their last regular season game of the year against Valley. The top of the 4A bracket is filled with five teams with very few missteps this season. The Academy needed to win this game to cement their place among the top of the state tournament.

Valley is a group of talented players who are well coached. In the first meeting, neither side scored in the first half before the Academy found success in the second half and won the game.

Playing on the small, extremely fast fields at APS is always a challenge for the Academy. Our grass fields play very differently and the timing on passes is quite a challenge. The Academy side started with a lack of the possession and precision that the team has displayed in recent games. In the fourteenth minute, Valley attacked down the left flank and was able to get behind the defensive as players were unable to control and clear the ball. With a one-on-one opportunity in front of the net, Valley finished with cool efficiency. 1-0.

The Academy tried to play their game, but just could not string four or five passes together—either missing the target player or flubbing control of the ball. As the half wore on, the Academy started to combine more into the offensive third of the field. A wonderful combination of passes culminated in a through pass from Roe Wilson-Scott ’20 to Tai Durell ’19 in the Valley penalty box. Tai threw a nifty fake on the defender and went around him drawing contact and a foul. Aaron Hill ’19 buried the resulting penalty kick. 1-1. The half ended minutes later.

At the beginning of the second half, Valley had two excellent chances, but could not put the ball on net. They weren’t able to muster a shot the rest of the half as Yannick Schlenzig ’19 and the defense combined to shut down Valley’s options. On the other side of the field, the Academy was figuring out how to combine together and get in. The Academy would fire nine shots on net in the half. 66 minutes in, Neven Zapatka ’22 took a crafty touch wide around a defender and sent in a perfectly weighted ball. Lucas Jepsen ’19 drifted to the middle of the penalty box and slammed a volley into the bottom of the crossbar. The ball bounced straight down and then back up into the net. Goal! 2-1. Lucas shouted in joy and the team felt a weight lift. This was a tough game and the team could never quite get up to their usual speed and precision. With time running out, Case Manifold ’21 took two consecutive, dangerous corner kicks. On the second, Neven got on the end of the cross and drove it to goal. The Valley keeper made a great save but the rebound came to Aaron who bundled it home for a late insurance goal. 3-1.

The game ended 3-1 in a tough match. The boys end on a 10 game winning streak with a record of 15-4-1. Their signature game was for the Academy Invitational championship against Cleveland, the top ranked team in the state. They earned the #2 ranking in the state tournament and will face Aztec on Wednesday morning.