Round 2

On February 27th the Lions played in round 2 of the Central Coast Section CCS. The Lions played against Mountain View on home turf at 3:30 p.m. In the duration of the game Lincoln made three goals ending with a final score of 3-0, eligible to move into round 3 of the CCS finals.

First Half

Lincoln starts the game at the kick off circle with the ball and right away they start the game with a long ball. In the beginning of the first half possession stays leveled, and then things speed up for our Lions on the attack. Juan Carrillo (#16) scores the first goal when he had the ball on the right side, he stepped to the inside, wound up his leg and took a shot to the second post and it went it. The Lions stepped pace of play after the first goal and continued more offense attacks. Senior, Henos Tsengay (#23), made the second goal in the air. Tsegay got a cross from Gabriel De La Torre (#7) and perfectly got on the end of the ball jumping in the air and volleying it in right behind the goal keepers back. Lincoln didn’t stop after those two goals, they continued to play strong and aggressive. The half came to end with the score at 2-0 in favor of our Lincoln Lions.

Second Half

Mountain View starts with the ball at the kick off circle and begin the second half slowly and Lincoln wins possession. As the game goes on the Lions are dominating and with a few slip ups here and there Mountain View gets close, but never scores. As Mountain View was getting frustrated they fouled one of our Lincoln players on the attack and gave us a free kick about 30 yards out from goal. The Lions score their third goal from the free kick as it is blocked towards Lincoln’s Bryan Guerrero (#25) who was alone at the second post and kicked in the loose ball. After this goal Mountain View didn’t give up but they didn’t get close to making up the score and our Lions proudly took this win. Lincoln moved on to the 3rd round, it was announced that they would be playing Yerba Buena at Del Mar at 7 p.m. on Wednesday March 2nd.

Round 3: Semi-Finals 

On Wednesday, March 2nd our Lincoln Lions took on Yerba Buena at Del Mar at 7 p.m. This had to be one of the most exciting games of the season, the boys played their hearts out and got the best result. The game ended with the score 2-1 in favor of Lincoln who now advances to the final round of Central Coast Section CCS. 

First Half

Yerba Buena kicks off the first half and an explosive game begins. Both teams were playing to their full, aggressive ability because of how much each team wanted to move on and win the CCS title. The possession was equal for the first 20-25 minutes of the first half, and then more shots kept getting taken. Lincoln’s starting forward Juan Carillo (#16) takes a shot from just outside the goalie box and it sweeps the back of the net making the score 1-0 for Lincoln. After this goal Yerba Buena steps up their aggressive playing, resulting in many fouls. One of Yerba Buena’s defenders fouls one of our Lions and the ref gives us a free kick only 10 yards from goal. Gabriel De La Torre (#7) takes the kick and crosses it to the middle as Juan Carillo (#16) gets on the end of the ball with his head and scores another goal. As the score was now 2-0 Yerba Buena increased the pace of their game and their aggressiveness on their attacks. A long ball was given to Yerba Buena’s #13 and as he beats a few of our defenders Lincoln’s goal keeper, Julian Lorenzo, comes outside his box to get in his way and Yerba Buena chips it right over and it goes into goal.  A few more solid minutes in the first half and the score stays at 2-1 in favor of our Lincoln Lions.

Second Half

Lincoln kicks off the second half wanting to keep the score in their favor. Yerba Buena continued their intensity and made many fouls on our Lions. #9 for Yerba Buena gets a yellow for tripping, #4 for Yerba Buena gets a yellow for aggressive contact, #7 for Lincoln gets a yellow, goal keeper for Yerba Buena gets a red card for a hand ball and then talking back, and #13 for Lincoln got a yellow for stalling. No one else scored in the second half of the game even though both teams never gave up, they kept taking shots.

Lincoln won the game 2-1 and now moving onto the final round of the Central Coast Section CCS against Everett Alvarez High School at Los Gatos High School at 7 p.m. on Saturday March 5th. Come out and support our Lincoln Lions!

Interviews

After the game, Lion Tales interviewed Juan Carrillo

and Alan Villalobos

— ALHS seniors. We asked Carrillo and Villalobos about how they felt before the game started, and they both said that they were nervous but excited. Our next question for them was if their coach had given them a motivational speech prior to the start of the game, and what he had said. They said that the coach had given them motivation by telling them to play with their heart and for the team. We then asked them what their own motivation was: Carrillo responded by saying that “everyone does, my family, the team,” and Villalobos said that it was to win.

Lastly, we asked them how they felt, and they both said that they were excited for the next game, which is on Saturday at Los Gatos High School at 7pm.