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By: Jeffrey Ochavillo

An FD and Sanchez player battle for position from the inbound throw. (photo by Joey Blas)

With the FD Friars and the Sanchez Sharks facing the same difficulties in Wednesday night’s game, defense was key for both of these teams. With defense being the factor , both the Friars and the Sharks finished with a 0-0 tie at the Okkodo soccer field.

With a very slow paced start coming from both teams in the 1st half, they both came out of halftime with more physicality by having more defensive stops and aggressive attacks towards the goal.

Even with the possession constantly changing throughout the entire game, the Friars seemed to be having the better transitioning of the ball by moving it towards the goal for the forwards Phillip Au and Justin Escobar. By good forward passes from the team, they were able to get it to the sides for many chances to score.

But the only thing preventing them from moving on was the constant call of offside. The entire night, they were frustrated by offside being called against them and they had no chance but to push the ball on their own.

Even with the aggressive attacks coming from the Friars, the Sharks knew that they had had to start applying pressure against the ball but the one who stepped up the most was their own goalkeeper.

(Sanchez) Kamson Shin steals the ball away from a Friar player. (photo by Joey Blas)

Sharks’ goalkeeper describes how he felt and what go him through saying that, “I was very scared when it came down to me and one player. Knowing that it was just me, I was in a tough spot. But I just relied on my defense and instinct to get all the saves.”

The defensive highlights came mostly from the Sharks’ goalkeeper, Tom Ananich. In the 75th minute in the game, knowing the pressure he was already in came up with 3 saves in less than 2 minutes.

Friar’s Jake Benito, Justin Escobar, and Joshua Lujan bombarded Ananich with many shoots in a one-to-one situation, but his anticipation overwhelmed everybody by ducking to the ground and going midair to get the saves, saving the team from trailing behind the Friars.

The Sharks did have the same amount of chances to score just like FD, but the defense was key in this game. They gave very good clears for the defense and that helped pushed the ball closer for the Sharks. But they just weren’t able to finish the passes up in the box.

Tom stated that, “we should have gotten better touches on the ball and gives better passes. If we had those things, maybe we could’ve scored”

With the final score being a tie, it leaves the record of the Sharks at 2-6-1 and the Friars at 4-4-1.

Other Scores

JFK 4, ND 1 – Islanders Sora Recella net a hattrick. Royals Wayne Jesus scored ND’s lone goal. Islanders improve to 7-2.

PHOTO GALLERY BROUGHT TO YOU BY:

(FD) Jestin Escobar steals the ball and passes the ball to an open player in the downfield. (photo by Joey Blas)

(Sanchez) Shane Hernandez tries to gain possession of the ball while being defended by two Friar defenders. (photo by Joey Blas)

(FD) Phillip Au kicks the ball downfield to an open teammate. (photo by Joey Blas)

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